Superbad
2007 · 113 min
Directed by Greg Mottola. Written by Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen. Starring Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader.
Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.
Critics 88% · audiences 87% · streaming on Paramount+ · $121 million in the US and Canada on its first run · $49 million elsewhere · about 18 million tickets sold, 5.9% of the country
What they said about Superbad
- 2007
The movie reminded me a little of National Lampoon's Animal House, except that it's more mature, as all movies are.
— Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times - 2007
Physically, Hill and Cera recall the classic comic duos—Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Aykroyd and Belushi. But they are contemporary kids, sophisticated and sensitive to nuance
— Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times - 2007
I hope it's not damning the movie with the wrong kind of praise to say that for a film so deliriously smutty, Superbad is supercute.
— Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times - 2007
2007: the year Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen saved movie comedy
— Sean Burns, Philadelphia Weekly - 2007
As a Revenge of the Nerds redux, Superbad isn't perfect. But it's super close.
— Devin Gordon, Newsweek - 2007
doesn't have the smarts or the depths of those ensemble comedies.
— Stephen Farber, The Hollywood Reporter
How it got made
Superbad was written by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen during their teen years. It is loosely based on their own experience as seniors in Vancouver in the late 1990s, hence the character names Seth and Evan. Other characters and references were influenced by Goldberg and Rogen's adolescence, such as Steven Glanzberg, their peer at Point Grey Secondary School, characterized in the film as a loner. According to an interview at an event panel in 2009, Fogell was also a real friend of Rogen and Goldberg. Rogen was initially slated to play Jonah Hill's character Seth. Still, due to his physical size and age, he played one of the police officers. When asked where he wants to be dropped off, Fogell tells the officers to take him to 13th and Granville, a nod to Rogen and Goldberg's favorite all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant in Vancouver. Superbad took seven years to complete from early scripting in 2000 and filming from 2006 to 2007. Among the films that served as inspiration for Superbad were Dazed and Confused, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and American Graffiti.
The film was primarily shot in Los Angeles in the fall of 2006. Exterior shots of the high school were filmed at El Segundo High School. The mall scenes were shot at the Fox Hills Mall in Culver City, California.
Other filming locations include the convenience store at the beginning of the film, also in Culver City, the liquor store where "McLovin" gets IDed in Glendale, California, and the bar where the cops take McLovin for a drink is neighboring Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The scene where McLovin and the cops do donuts in the cop car was filmed in a parking lot on the California State University, Northridge campus.
At the box office
Superbad opened at number one at the United States box office, grossing US$33,052,411 in its opening weekend from 2,948 theaters for an average of US$11,212 per theater. The film stayed at the second week, grossing US$18,044,369.
The film grossed US$121.5 million in the United States and Canada and US$48.4 million in other countries, for a total of US$169.9 million worldwide. Compared to the budget of $17.5–20 million, the film earned a huge financial profit, making it the highest domestic grossing high school comedy at the time (it was surpassed by 21 Jump Street, a film also starring Hill, in 2012).
Afterwards
Since its release, it has retrospectively garnered acclaim as one of the best comedies of the 2000s and as one of the best high school films of all time. It has been hailed as one of the defining films of the Millennial generation.