Fun When You Least Expect It

You pay your fifteen bucks and you never know what you will get.   I went into this one with mild trepidation.  The reviews were fabulous, but that's never a guarantee.   And I vaguely remember seeing the "unofficial" prequel to this, which was "Dazed and Confused," and not liking it.  

But you want to see a movie and "Everybody Wants Some!!" was the best thing I could find.

And it was the best thing I could see.  Clearly, this was a film that had me smiling from the first frame to the last.

Director Richard Linklater has liked to mine his childhood into movies and there is definitely an autobiographical nature to this.   You can see where the main character of Jake Bradford is probably Linklater.   In this case, the mining brings us pure gold.    With a tale where nothing really happens but a lot indeed does.

Jake is a college freshman who will be pitching with a rundown Texas college.   A star in high school, he will just be one of the bunch living together in a rickety frat house.  The year is 1980 and the hair and the music and the leaky waterbeds all perfectly evoke the era.  Essentially, this film takes us through the first three days before classes will actually start.   Because, as soon as school starts, the story and the film rightfully ends.  But, the three days prior is where the meat of the movie is served.

You watch as this screwy collection of college baseball players come together.   To fight.  To drink.  To sit on each other's faces.   And, of course, to go after women.   "Everybody Wants Some!!" is funny and raunchy in an Animal House sort of way.   But, deep down, there is a heart as you develop an affinity for even the most obnoxious character.   An expert script will do that.

Amidst all the nonsense, Jake is smitten by a drama student and their first connection over the telephone sounds like a conversation all of us have had at least once in our life with somebody we were crushing on.   It's all beautifully organic and real.   Kudos to the actors playing out this relationship --- Blake Jenner and Zoey Deutch, who is the real life daughter of Lea Thompson.  Go figure.

From the poster above and the loglines about the film, you would likely turn up your nose at "Everybody Wants Some."   But it would be a crime for you to avoid it.   Jeez, the soundtrack alone is worth the prices of your Buncha Crunch.

LEN'S RATING:  Four stars.

Dinner last night:  Bacon wrapped Dodger Dog.