Vitals

Jonah Hill as Seth, crude high school senior

Clark County, Spring 2006

Film: Superbad
Release Date: August 17, 2007
Director: Greg Mottola
Costume Designer: Debra McGuire

WARNING! Spoilers ahead!

Background

Yesterday marked exactly 16 years since my high school graduation. Early June always awakens my nostalgia for the last days of school, when the excitement of summer ahead was made even more thrilling my senior year when I was just months away from entering college.

Superbad was released two months after I graduated during this significant summer, so it always held a significant place in my moviegoing heart for as much as I could—for better or worse—relate to its protagonists, Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera), during their final weeks of high school as lame-duck seniors.

The movie was written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, loosely based on their own experiences as teens in Vancouver during the late ’90s, with added cinematic inspiration by way of American Graffiti, Dazed and Confused, and Fast Times at Ridgemont High. By the time Superbad actually made it to the production phase in the mid-2000s, Rogen was a familiar face due to roles in The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Knocked Up, but he had aged out of convincingly playing a high school student, providing the opportunity for Jonah Hill’s breakout performance as Seth, the brash teen inspired by Rogen himself. Continue reading →