'Superbad' is super good

It was the time of raging hormones, drunken mishaps and wavering minds. That's right, it was senior year of high school, the backdrop for the newest film to come from the minds of "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up" creators.

"Superbad" is a super-fun, sex-and-booze comedy about three socially-awkward 18-year-old friends Evan (Michael Cera), Seth (Jonah Hill) and Fogell (newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse) who try to get alcohol for a party, so they can get with the girls they've been pawning over.

With graduation and the separation of college upon them, Seth sees this as a final chance to lose their virginity, so they can go to college sexually experienced.

For Seth, a porn-addicted pervert, trying to attract hottie Jules (Emma Stone) is all he can think about. The only way he thinks he can attract her is at her party, for which she asked him to provide the liquor. However, his sheepish best friend Evan, although prepared to, doesn't really want to sleep with his secret sweetheart Becca (Martha MacIssac), but to woo her and make her his ... at least for the summer.

So, who do they rely on for the daunting task of underage alcohol purchase?

They rely on the biggest outcast, Fogell, because he received a fake ID in which he turned himself into the 25-year-old organ donor from Hawaii named "McLovin." Eventually, "McLovin" is questioned about a robbery, and then goes on a seemingly never-ending and unforgettable journey with two of the worst cops you would ever want to protect and serve, played by co-writer Seth Rogen and Saturday Night Live funnyman Bill Hader.

As for the story of this film, that is about it. It's the quintessential story to every teen sex comedy you've ever seen, but what makes it unique is the writing, the characters and the performances.

Cera, from the television hit "Arrested Development," and Hill, famous for his roles in "Knocked Up" and "Grandma's Boy," have such a great chemistry and play off each other so well, you'll swear you knew these guys in high school, if you weren't already them. These tight amigos got into separate schools, and the tension around it grows throughout the picture, and the two use it to the advantage of pity for their characters.

However, rookie performer Mintz-Plasse is the scene stealer, as he not just plays Fogell, but he is Fogell, and eventually McLovin. His trek with the police, who were just going to give him a lift to his destination, turns into a wild night of homeless bar nuts, abuse of power and eventually an inadvertent meeting with Evan and Seth, all of which Fogell seems to become more ballsy with every new scene.

Each character has their own bit of odd, social moments, such as Seth's daydreams in the grocery store and Fogell's different misadventures with his cop buddies, and they definitely have their memorable lines, which are so perverse and grotesquely funny, I would be heavily censored if I repeated them.

There will be enough quotes in this film that will be repeated around high schools and colleges to last until the end of the year, and to be honest, I don't believe the teenage society will ever get tired of them.

While there's an over abundance of cursing and sex jokes (especially on Seth's part), there is the heart that seems to be in which everything producer Judd Apatow has a hand. You begin to feel for these poor saps, no matter how disgusting they may be at times.

If it's something that Apatow and crew is good at, it's making the audience fall for the lovable losers and to give hope to those not as socially respected as some. Rooting for the clowns hasn't been this enjoyable since "Revenge of the Nerds."

Yet, like the 1980s classic, the boys of "Superbad" pawn over the much more attractive female counterparts, and only Evan's crush on Becca is the only one that seems like it would work in real life. But it makes me feel good to see that the oddballs aren't competing against a jock stud, but only themselves, and it really did remind me of my high-school days.

Critic's Conclusion: All of the dirty jokes about sex, booze and teenage awkwardness, paired with the four-lettered-foul-word frenzy would side this movie with every other prep school sex-capade, but the heart and the characters make this movie more than that.

"Superbad" made me laugh harder than any other comedy I've seen this year, and it also gave me a little hit of high-school nostalgia that is perfect for these late summer woes about beginning school once more. A