Fun movie. To believe director Richard Linklater's "spiritual sequel" to DAZED & CONFUSED, you'd think going to college was a free ticket to girls, beer and nightly all-niters. And hey, it kind of is, right? Except for the classes. And the awkwardness. Or social failings of any kind. I guess those wouldn't have made for such an entertaining movie though.
All of that is to say that while EVERYBODY WANTS SOME is fun, it isn't exactly true to life, even while offering an authentic look at 1980- era young adulthood. The characters are a baseball team, conveniently rooming in their own pair of off-campus quasi-frat houses: there's the wide-eyed freshman pitcher, the upperclassmen who love hazing and boozing almost as much as they love balls and strikes, the misfit 30-year old stoner (remember, this is Linklater we're talking about), the p-whipped hick.... you get the picture-- it's essentially an Animal House-style ensemble cast where the audience never gets a chance to tire of any one character in particular. Further, because the writing avoids clichés for the most part, each character gets a few good punchlines, and chances to endear himself to the viewer.
And I emphasize HIM-self. Despite the fact that I heard girls chuckling at jokes in the theater, this movie is basically about boys, in college, age 18-22. Lots of scenes about various kinds of male bonding. Others about various forms of competition and/or one- up-man-ship. I wouldn't go so far as to say the movie is sexist, but it's certainly biased towards a male perspective.
All of that said, the characters are like-able. The apparent protagonist, a young pitcher by the name of Jake (All-American looking Blake Jenner), arrives a few days before classes at a Texas university to meet his teammates and new (well-stocked) abode. He's a nice kid with lots of talent, a great smile, and a way with girls. Just like all his teammates. Throughout the film, he scores at the disco, entrances young lasses at the C&W bar, slam dances at the punk show, and just generally aces life. He even wins the heart of a young drama student (played by Zoey Deutch) the day before classes start. Talk about an overachiever!
His teammates run the gamut from witty/charming (Finnegan, in an effortlessly funny performance by Glen Powell) to jockish (Tyler Hoechlin's McReynolds -- a great baseball name to be sure) to a mixture the two. The weirdest character is probably Jay (Juston Street), an over-compensating, aggro pitcher who constantly brags about his fastball and major-league talent. Still, the team members work well and play off each other, and again Linklater demonstrates his ability to assemble a great cast of mostly unknown actors who not only gel, but come off as fun, likable dudes.
The problem is this: there's no real story. Some stuff happens -- mostly fun stuff, to be sure, but I could probably sum up the plot of the movie by saying young, attractive athletes score chicks in a variety of situations pretty easily. Entertaining enough, maybe (especially if you're a hot dude), but compared to DAZED & CONFUSED (or this movie's *real* spiritual partner ANIMAL HOUSE), it comes off a bit one-dimensional. The boys go from one party to the next, making out well pretty much every time -- I kept waiting for the conflict, the consequence, the B part to all the A parts, but it never happened.
In truth, the movie felt like one, long first act. I could almost see this as part of some massive cycle where the next installment would be a 90-minute come-down: bad 2nd dates, hangovers, failed classes, losing seasons. Call me cynical, but even college kids have bad days.
Or course, I might be expecting too much. This movie takes place in 1980 (and rightly, retains a lot of the 70s in its look/feel), so if you judge its story and characters by the kinds of flicks college kids flocked to back then -- PORKY'S, REVENGE OF THE NERDS, ANIMAL HOUSE -- it comes off as intelligently written with good performances. But even NERDS had conflict. Hell, one of bros at ANIMAL HOUSE partied harder *and* bedded the mayor's wife.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this movie. I might even be into a sequel, if it promised a little more character depth, and a story arc that actually, er, arc'd. EVERYBODY WANTS SOME is a good time, and not much more. From a different director that might be enough, but from Linklater, it feels like a ground-rule double instead of a grand slam.
All of that is to say that while EVERYBODY WANTS SOME is fun, it isn't exactly true to life, even while offering an authentic look at 1980- era young adulthood. The characters are a baseball team, conveniently rooming in their own pair of off-campus quasi-frat houses: there's the wide-eyed freshman pitcher, the upperclassmen who love hazing and boozing almost as much as they love balls and strikes, the misfit 30-year old stoner (remember, this is Linklater we're talking about), the p-whipped hick.... you get the picture-- it's essentially an Animal House-style ensemble cast where the audience never gets a chance to tire of any one character in particular. Further, because the writing avoids clichés for the most part, each character gets a few good punchlines, and chances to endear himself to the viewer.
And I emphasize HIM-self. Despite the fact that I heard girls chuckling at jokes in the theater, this movie is basically about boys, in college, age 18-22. Lots of scenes about various kinds of male bonding. Others about various forms of competition and/or one- up-man-ship. I wouldn't go so far as to say the movie is sexist, but it's certainly biased towards a male perspective.
All of that said, the characters are like-able. The apparent protagonist, a young pitcher by the name of Jake (All-American looking Blake Jenner), arrives a few days before classes at a Texas university to meet his teammates and new (well-stocked) abode. He's a nice kid with lots of talent, a great smile, and a way with girls. Just like all his teammates. Throughout the film, he scores at the disco, entrances young lasses at the C&W bar, slam dances at the punk show, and just generally aces life. He even wins the heart of a young drama student (played by Zoey Deutch) the day before classes start. Talk about an overachiever!
His teammates run the gamut from witty/charming (Finnegan, in an effortlessly funny performance by Glen Powell) to jockish (Tyler Hoechlin's McReynolds -- a great baseball name to be sure) to a mixture the two. The weirdest character is probably Jay (Juston Street), an over-compensating, aggro pitcher who constantly brags about his fastball and major-league talent. Still, the team members work well and play off each other, and again Linklater demonstrates his ability to assemble a great cast of mostly unknown actors who not only gel, but come off as fun, likable dudes.
The problem is this: there's no real story. Some stuff happens -- mostly fun stuff, to be sure, but I could probably sum up the plot of the movie by saying young, attractive athletes score chicks in a variety of situations pretty easily. Entertaining enough, maybe (especially if you're a hot dude), but compared to DAZED & CONFUSED (or this movie's *real* spiritual partner ANIMAL HOUSE), it comes off a bit one-dimensional. The boys go from one party to the next, making out well pretty much every time -- I kept waiting for the conflict, the consequence, the B part to all the A parts, but it never happened.
In truth, the movie felt like one, long first act. I could almost see this as part of some massive cycle where the next installment would be a 90-minute come-down: bad 2nd dates, hangovers, failed classes, losing seasons. Call me cynical, but even college kids have bad days.
Or course, I might be expecting too much. This movie takes place in 1980 (and rightly, retains a lot of the 70s in its look/feel), so if you judge its story and characters by the kinds of flicks college kids flocked to back then -- PORKY'S, REVENGE OF THE NERDS, ANIMAL HOUSE -- it comes off as intelligently written with good performances. But even NERDS had conflict. Hell, one of bros at ANIMAL HOUSE partied harder *and* bedded the mayor's wife.
Ultimately, I enjoyed this movie. I might even be into a sequel, if it promised a little more character depth, and a story arc that actually, er, arc'd. EVERYBODY WANTS SOME is a good time, and not much more. From a different director that might be enough, but from Linklater, it feels like a ground-rule double instead of a grand slam.