Southern California is a very unique place to live, especially during the holidays. Most people around the country have to bundle up and wear heavy jackets just to stay warm, as where I can still wear flip flops and go jogging on the beach, but with a sweatshirt on, to watch the sunset. Now I don’t know how many of you are Dr. Seuss fans? Or have read the book by Dr. Seuss And To Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, which was one of my personal favorites growing up. But living in Southern California sometimes reminds me of what it would be like to be in that story. Today, just like any day, I went walking/jogging on the beach here in San Diego. It was brisk outside, but of course very pretty. After I got to my turn around point I started to head back and in the near distance I saw people with a Christmas tree on the sand. I thought to myself, “what the hell are they doing with a tree on the sand?” As I got closer to it on my jog back, I realized that it was a family and they were decorating it, because I saw the dad putting a giant star on top. And as I continued to get closer I slowed down to try and figure out what they were going to do with it. The mom was typical blonde and was bossing her family around telling them how to decorate the tree and where to move it. As they were finishing up they were all taking off their jackets and had on beautiful gowns and suits. I thought it was kind of weird… and then I figured it out. I thought, “No way. I can’t believe they brought their tree down on the sand to do this!” I figured it out just as the mom was yelling at them to get into a formation. They were taking their Christmas card picture.
-Lindsay Gilbert Ahart
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REVIEWS REVIEWS REVIEWS
Film For Thought:
Superbbad: Rogen Comes Good
A Review by Brent Heupel
Much like the countless other tales of teenage angst and coming to age stories, Superbad follows three high school seniors through a crazy night as they all try to lose their virginity before leaving for college. Unlike Porky’s, Risky Business, Can’t Hardly Wait, and most recently, the American Pie series, Superbad takes a different, more tender look at the transition from high school to college.
Directed by Greg Mottola, Seth Rogen wrote Superbad and is his first full-length feature. Fortunately for the audience, Rogen tells his “boys to men” story from a different point of view. Again, he presents the audience with a tenderer story; however, just because it’s more sensitive doesn’t mean it’s any less funny. Rogen starts the movie off in the traditional way as he introduces the two main characters, best friends Seth and Evan. Seth is picking up Evan for school, talking to him on their cell phones about their favorite porno sites until he’s in the drive way. As he introduces the characters, Rogen also introduces the premise: Evan and Seth are best friends who are heading to two different colleges next fall. Evan’s mom is not bashful when she points this out, asking Seth how “devastated” he’s going to be when they’re apart. However, her taunting this seems to even faze Seth as he ogles Evan’s mom’s chest throughout the entire conversation.
Besides being hysterically funny, the other nice thing about Rogen’s screenplay is that it’s incredibly realistic. You see the boys as high school kids truly are: awkward, unsure, and looking for help. During the opening 20 minutes alone, both Evan and their nerdy friend Fogell get caught blatantly staring at their female classmates. Of course both get caught, but this, along with the conversation about hiding their erections, are things that most of the guys in the audience can relate to. Later Fogell skips school to get a fake ID – yet something else many high school kids are guilty of – and meets Seth and Evan after school to buy liquor. Invariably Seth gets cornered by one of the popular girls in school and volunteers to buy her all of the alcohol for her party. Also knowing that Fogell was getting a fake ID, Evan also volunteers to buy the girl he’s crushing on a bottle of vodka. Despite the ridiculous, but hilarious fake name of McLovin that Fogell signed on his fake ID, the boys head over to the liquor store. He’s nervous, but things are going well until the store is robbed, with the robber knocking Fogell out. As Seth and Evan see the police, Seth convinces Evan to leave Fogell, getting hit by a car in the process. Still determined to get alcohol for the girls, and now broke, the boys leave for a different house party with an obvious sex offender in order find it.
As all of the boys get further away from school, they are forced to come out of their shells, and the situations they face get more and more out of control and absurd. Upon arriving at the party, Seth and Evan manage to steal some beer, but start fights both with each other and with most of the people at the party in order to do so, so they flee.
In the mean time, Fogell was indeed apprehended by the police, but instead of taking him to jail, they decide he’s a victim and take him around town to show him a good time. The two officers, played by Bill Hader and Rogen himself, are quite possibly the worst, but funniest police imaginable. Eventually all three boys meet up again when Seth is hit by yet another car. This time, it’s Officers Slater and Michaels who hit him, with Fogell and their liquor in the backseat. Confused and scared, all of the boys run – finally getting themselves and the liquor to the party. Once they arrive, they are the heroes, and although one can’t help but feel like the girls are playing them, all three find moderate levels of success with the girls they’re pursuing. Unfortunately, disaster strikes when both Seth and Evan get too drunk, and Officers Slater and Michaels show up to bust the party. Seth puts their fight aside and carries a passed out Evan home; thus, renewing his commitment to their friendship. This is where Rogen’s script differs from the more traditional “right of passage” stories, as Rogen focuses on the two boys resolving their differences with each other, rather than their love interests.
And after an extremely awkward, almost homosexual moment between Seth and Evan the next morning, life returns to normal as they head to the mall to hangout. Luckily for them, they run into the girls, who are also recovering from the party, and are given a second chance to make things right with them as well. Even though it had a “fairy tale ending,” Superbad isn’t your traditional right of passage movie, and it’s probably one of the most original and funniest movies of the year because of that.
If you want to write one, please send it to Lindsay@PinkLamb.com