There is about a third of a brilliant classic comedy in the outrageously funny Superbad, most of which is in the first 30 minutes. Starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera as two high school loners who are on the verge of college and distancing themselves from each other after a lifetime of friendship, Superbad gets a lot right, with a few truly funny moments, hilarious dialogue, and a handful of terrific performances. I just wish the comedic energy of the first act had kept up for the remainder of the movie.

The first six or seven scenes are some of the funniest in a movie in recent years. Before there is anything remotely resembling a plot, writers Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and director Greg Mottola allow Hill and Cera to walk around and banter about girls, sex, alcohol, dicks. There’s nowhere this movie’s dialogue doesn’t go. It’s absolutely refreshing to hear high school kids actually talk to each other, and in an honest, uncensored manner. There’s a scene where Hill and Cera just roam around a supermarket and talk, and it may be the most entertaining scene of most any film this summer. When talk of blowing your load a la Orson Welles was mentioned, I practically lost it. And that’s followed by the amazing scene where Hill mouths off on his teacher, followed thereafter by telling Cera a story about what he did as a kid that made him “unusual.” All of this stuff is absolute comedy gold, and I felt like this would be one of the ten best movies of the year.

Unfortunately, once an actual plot comes into play, especially when Hill and Cera become separated, the movie goes from being great to merely good. There are some bits that drag, that aren’t especially funny, that don’t really go anywhere. While the corrupt cop characters (Bill Hader and writer Seth Rogen) are really funny in the beginning, their schtick eventually gets so over-the-top that it stops being all that funny but more shocking instead. Whenever Hill and Cera are split, the movie kind of loses its magic. And I may get shit for this, but I wasn’t all that impressed with “McLovin.” His character was alright but didn’t compare to the main pair. He shouldn’t have been given as much screen time. There’s also a more dramatic “friendship” angle that comes into play in the final act, and while it kind of worked, it could’ve been more effective. The last scene in the mall particularly doesn’t work nearly as well as it should.

But it’s not to say I didn’t like Superbad. I liked it a lot! I’m being a little hard on the movie mostly because the word of mouth has been absolutely sensational, when it’s just a strong comedy in a summer that produced a better comedy entitled Knocked Up. Producer Judd Apatow has to take a lot of credit for being responsible for the return of the R-rated comedy, in all its glory. After Knocked Up, and 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, probably my favorite comedy of the last five years, Apatow has proven to attach his name to quality projects, and I’m already looking forward to his next. While Superbad isn’t quite in the same league as those other two films, it’s still a great movie that I will get a kick out of seeing again.

3 stars (out of 4)