Super Bad -vs- American Pie

Today at lunch an interesting discussion was tabled. Which film did you like more, Super Bad or American Pie? It was a guys lunch some of us worked together and others elsewhere. Some at the table were from what would be considered in our particular area, affluent backgrounds, some were the frat boy types and jock types, and a few others were what I guess what you would call
socially middle of the road. Just to let you know I happen to be one of the socially middle of the road guys. Never into the college scene, my parents didn’t buy me a car when I was 15 or a house when I was 18. I didn’t play much high school ball, I did however play In the band. Forget that last bit.

What I learned from the innocent conversation was just how certain movies are made to target certain audiences. You know the way some people like horrors and some people like action movies? Or how some people like sentimental pics and others comedies. I found today how movies can generally split their viewers within a single genre. This genre was the sophomoric humor genre. Pitting two movies with similar storylines but with completely different ways of ending with same resolution. These two movies were Super Bad and American Pie. If you haven’t seen either of these movies then you probably aren’t the movie viewer who enjoys sophomoric humor pictures and this post won’t mean much to you, but I’m sure the same arguments made here can be applied to other genres as well.


American Pie
Jim (Biggs), Oz (Klein), Finch (Thomas) and Kevin (Nicholas) are four friends who make a pact that before they graduate they will all lose their virginity. The hard job now is how to reach that goal by prom night. Whilst Oz begins singing to grab attention and Kevin tries to persuade his girlfriend, Finch tries any easy route of spreading rumors and Jim fails miserably. Whether it is being caught on top of a pie or on the Internet, Jim always end up with his trusty sex advice from his father (Levy). Will they achieve their goal of getting laid by prom night? or will they learn something much different.

American Pie was a huge success in the theaters as well as in the home sales department. American Pie was a general coming of age movie playing upon one of the most dreaded and feared conquest of boys becoming men. This movie was funny, full of cheeky comedy and a fun plot. The characters in this movie, to keep on track with the idea of my post, were what I would categorize as the pretty kids. Jim (Jason Biggs) was a somewhat awkward kid, from a somewhat affluent household. For me he was the only character I could relate with on any level. Oz (Klein) was the sport star type who’s only real complication in life was overcoming his own ego and failing miserably at trying to be the sensitive jock type. Finch (Thomas), well his character was developed pretty poorly in my opinion. All I gathered from his character was that he was just a follower type that found himself accepted by his other outrageous friends. Kevin (Nicholas), filled the sensitive conflicted teen role, pretty well. Though his character, in my opinion was also developed poorly. Steve Stiffler (Scott), while the “Stiffmiester” was by far the funniest character in the movie, played excellently by Seann William Scott, I couldn’t connect with him. I have known plenty of people like him. Arrogant, womanizing and full of kindergarten humor, the life of the party. He was the guy, when I was in high school that annoyed me the most. At times you would be jealous of this guy and at other times you just hoped that girls didn’t think that you were anything like him.

I did enjoy this movie but when the credits rolled all I took away from this film was a few funny one liners and a few new jokes for my friends. When watching a “guys” movie I like sitting there and being reminiscent of what it was like when I was there. The camaraderie of adolescence, boys being boys, learning and sharing the times of your lives together. Movies like Stand By Me and Goonies did this for me. Though I never went body hunting with my friends or searching for the lost treasure of “One Eyed Willie” I could relate those films to adventures and mishaps my friends would have. Perhaps I looked for more in my friendships than girls and getting drunk on the weekend.

Super Bad
Seth and Evan are best friends, inseparable, navigating the last weeks of high school. Usually shunned by the popular kids, Seth and Evan luck into an invitation to a party, and spend a long day, with the help of their nerdy friend Fogell, trying to score enough alcohol to lubricate the party and inebriate two girls, Jules and Becca, so they can kick-start their sex lives and go off to college with a summer full of experience and new skills. Their quest is complicated by Fogell's falling in with two inept cops who both slow and assist the plan. If they do get the liquor to the party, what then? Is sex the only rite of passage at hand?
Super Bad, as American Pie, was a general coming of age story. This film however, follows the path of the outcasts, nerds, or misfits however you want to categorize the kids who weren’t invited to all the parties. The kids who spent time hanging out with their friends in their basements. Laughing and enjoying each others company. The kids who were happy to be accepted by their friends and didn’t spend much of their time trying to be accepted by others who didn’t like them for who they were.

For me, Super Bad was one of those movies that I could connect with on such a deep level. I felt I wasSeth(Jonah Hill), and my best friend way back then was Even(Michael Cera). We spent countless hours hanging out together, talking about all the hot chicks we wanted to nail. Getting drunk together and laughing together until our eyes teared. Seth and Evan along with super geeky Fogell(Christopher Mintz-Plasse), in my opinion epitomize what it was to be the unpopular kids in high school. They didn’t allow their desire to “fit in” change the people they were. There characters were written brilliantly by Seth Rogan. Rogan drew on his own life experiences when writing this film. Only somebody who truly grew up as the uncomfortable youth could write a film that so eloquently displayed the trials and tribulations of growing up as such.
Super Bad definitely had its share of dick jokes and one liners that I now use on an everyday basis. Very rarely does a film come along that the “regular guy” can relate to. Super Bad does just this.

Summing up another long rambling post
After my little lunch last week I decided to ask around a bit more. I wanted to know if it was just a fluke, the way these certain groups viewed these two movies. What I found to my utter amazement was this. There is definitely a line that divides the coming of age teen comedy and that line is strongest between what I’ll call the haves and have nots. I have gotten, in every group of people I’ve asked about these 2 movies, the exact same response.

THE HAVES the popular kids in my little poll

Super Bad
- to long
- the characters were to geeky
- the chicks were not hot enough
- who cares about a couple of geeks and their problems
- to mushy (I found that on pretty surprising)
When asked if they would watch it again, all said no, and that they could hardly watch it the first time.

American Pie
- Hilarious
- That was them in the day
- The chicks were hot
- Stiffler ruled
- They wish they could go back in time and live even more like the characters did
When asked if they would ever watch the film again. Every single one of them has all three of the series on DVD.

THE HAVE NOTS the unpopular kids in my little poll, me included

Super Bad
- Felt like they had been there
- Remembered chasing that one certain girl
- Found themselves reminiscing of their own half witted antics
- Learned a lot of life lessons in those years
- Remembered exactly where they were when they got their first chance to score
When asked if they would ever watch the film again. Being a pretty recent dvd release, most already owned it or saw it in the theater and rented it again as soon as it came out.

American Pie

- Pretty funny I guess
- Those were the guys they could barely stand in school
- The chicks were hot (I suppose hot chicks know no bounds for guys)
- Stiffler was a funny asshole
- Why was the football dude so depressed
- Stffler’s mom should have been hotter
When asked if they would or have watched the movie again. Most have caught bits and pieces of it, since one of the three in the trilogy seem to air just about everyday on TBS but don’t search it out for their viewing pleasure.

I suppose I could have put my research efforts into something more worthwhile than the eternal debate of which movie was funnier. But hey, that’s what blogs are for. I just found this rift so socially important that I had to spend 2 hours of my night writing it. Well I’m off to indulge in my awkward habit of drawing,dicks okay, yes like man dicks. Peace out, chica, chica, yeah.