Superbad (2007) -vs- American Pie (1999)

Boys Just Wanna Have Fun, Too

The Smackdown. You're never too old to relive the total humiliation of your teenage years, nor to remember (if you're a guy) just how much you wanted to get in the Club and to realize it might just be out of reach. Both "Superbad" and "American Pie" give us groups of horny high school guys who would really like to have shed their virginity so they can truly relax and enjoy graduation, knowing that they will not have to spend the rest of their lives lying about what they did and did not do by the end of that fateful senior year. They know, apparently, that a diploma for merely passing classes is so not what it's about. Both of these films -- released eight years apart -- hit the gold with audiences of all ages and theaters during both releases were filled with actual screams of laughter. This ain't gonna be easy...

The Challenger. While our family was recently on vacation in Ireland, it seemed like everyone saw "Superbad" except us. This really bothered my 15-year-old, Jared, so we went as soon as we got back, jet-lagged or not. As it turns out, this film is so entertaining and outrageous that the last thing you will ever do while watching it is go to sleep. The film starts with dick-jokes and similar raunch and never stops but, the thing is, the dialogue all feels very fluid and confident, even if underneath it all, it's also just a little sad. The point is, most reviews will now tell you, it's really not about the sex-jokes, it's about the friendship between Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera). Well, yeah, and the sex-jokes. A third-wheel friend, Fogell, played by new kid Christopher Mintz-Plasse pretty much steals the show and the moniker "McLovin" has probably forever entered the nation's vocabulary.

The Defending Champion. Don McLean's "American Pie" -- a sweet song if there ever was one -- was the #1 song when I was a kid, and it still sets me back that those two words will now forever be associated with sticking your penis is a piece of pastry. Oh, well. The plot, as with "Superbad," involves high school buds knowing that if they don't hurry up and get laid quick, they are destined to go through life knowing their high school experience wasn't as "fulfilling" as someone else's. Jim (Jason Biggs) is the pie-defiler in this film, but it's his relationship with his dad (Eugene Levy) that takes the cake (er, pie). I've raised two boys now and I've never had to support Larry Flynt to do that properly, but it sure is funny here. (And, BTW, my own dad never even had the decency to leave a Playboy lying around the house.)

The Scorecard. One of the problems with "American Pie" and the series of increasingly silly sequels it spawned is that the kids all look a little too old to be high schoolers. But, man, the three leads in "Superbad" do not have that problem. They feel perfectly cast.

There's another contrast between the two films and that's the actual appearance of parents. There aren't any in "Superbad," only a couple of cops as stand-ins who are as f'd up as the kids while, as noted, it's a central part of  "American Pie" and its comedy. Remember Mrs. Stifler?

Which takes us to tone. Funny as it is, the relationship of Jim and his dad in "American Pie" is never truly real. Maybe I've just seen Levy in too many other silly roles, but you can't take him seriously. By stripping out the parents interacting with the kids, "Superbad" feels more authentic, except for the times McLovin' is out hanging with the cops who feel decidely un-real themselves.

The mission in the two films isn't simply to get laid. In "Superbad," it involves some major illegal underage drinking. These kids realize that there are women who sometimes get drunk and sleep with the wrong guys and they long to be "those guys."

Honestly, though, both films grabbed audiences big-time in the summers of their releases and, like I say, this one could go either way...

The Decision.  If I had to go back to my own high school days and ask myself which one of these films most accurately captured the time, I'd have to go with "Superbad." I had a friend who was a Seth who treated me like a Fogell but I thought of myself as an Evan. The mere fact that I can state that with a straight face pretty much tells you how universal this film really is. As time goes by, I'm gonna remember Don McLean for "American Pie" and give the Smackdown win here to the new champ, "Superbad."