Movies: Superbad -- Vagina Dentata From the Black Lagoon

McLovin asks for a wrench about 'yea big' to pry him from the bootie monster

Superbad, the latest opus from the comedy colossus that is Judd Apatow (Knocked Up, The 40-Year Old Virgin) is a very, very funny film, though not without its flaws. Essentially this is a monster movie in a comedy guise. The monster? Woman, the she, the creature from Venus. Of course women aren't monsters and Superbad is aware of it's own silliness over all things female and genital. This self-awareness is what keeps it away from misogyny and safely in the comedy realm. Our would-be heroes, Seth and Evan, are fascinated by these mysterious beings, studying footage on the Internet even as they are disgusted by the more extreme examples of behavior they find there. Their plan, like Carl Denham in King Kong, is to lure the women and ply them with intoxicants for further study. Sounds creepy eh? But remember, in the world of Superbad it's the women who have the power. Seth and Evan's buddy Fogell is horrified by Officer Slater's (Bill Hader) tale of why women should not be met in bars, a story that is delivered by his partner (co-screenwriter and Knocked Up star Seth Rogan) with all the rueful malevolence of Quint in Jaws. When the monsters do strike the results are deadly and therefore hilarious. Jonah Hill (playing Seth) almost gets beaten to a pulp by a jealous boyfriend who senses, literally, blood in the water. Michael Cera (playing Evan) is pinned down by a girl who's transformation is nothing short of Dr. Jekyll. In the end, the body snatchers have won as both man-boys watch each other longingly depart in the keep of their new mistresses. Oh, but it is funny. Cera and Hill are perfect together -- Cera's underplaying and Hill's near hysteria working it like peanut butter and jelly. Christopher Mintz-Plasse does geek-chic like it's going out of style. Martha MacIsaac as Becca shows great comic chops and Emma Stone plays Jules with a winning throatiness that suggests a Kathleen Turner in training. The flaws I mentioned earlier? The pic is too long, chiefly because of one too many scenes with the cops. A good 15 minutes of Hader and Rogan could have been left on the floor. Other than that Superbad is ace, if not quite as good as Knocked Up.
Superbad rates 4 out 0f 5 Monsters: