Wick's Review

Summary - Really Great 4.5

An all-time great college comedy, EWS!! riffs on pre-PC male privilege in all its semi-decadent glory. It imagines a nationally-ranked baseball team at a third-tier Texas college – the Bad Habit Bears, basically.

As a guy who was a sophomore in 1980, when Richard Linklater’s movie is set, I had a great time laughing along. Post-PC prudes will feel differently. Victims – real and imagined – should stay away, far away.

Linklater calls Everybody Wants Some!! the “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, his all-time great high school comedy set in 1976. They follow his partying years in Texas schools, through a lens absurdly.

Kids, don’t try this at home, er, at school. It’s a highly idealized collegiate experience, mostly from the male POV. I happened to have had a great time in college, yet didn’t hold a candle to these guys. Of course, they’ve got the cinematic reality-distortion field going and they’re top athletes, guys who had it made.

Gotta Love

• They hit every party & bar on campus & in town: jock house, theater, new wave, disco, country.
• They never play an actual baseball game, only engaging in weak-ass preseason “workouts”.
• They diss Van Halen for wearing spandex, then never play the movie’s title song. Loved it!

Just as he did with Dazed and Confused, Linklater introduces a passel of bright new stars with EWS!! – Blake Jenner, Ryan Guzman, Quinton Johnson and Temple Baker. Most of all, Glen Powell stands out as the pseudo-erudite Finnegan. Will any be as big as Matthew McConaughey or Ben Affleck? We shall see.

Richard Linklater, we’re not worthy. No, scratch that. We are worthy, plenty worthy, plenty pleased too.

Acting - Great 4.0

Kickass Cast of Mostly Newbies

• Glen Powell’s Finnegan is a sly charmer. That’s him riding shotgun in the nearby vid.
• Ryan Guzman’s Roper has the best cheese on campus. He’s driving in the vid.
• Temple Baker has star power. Backseat, yellow shirt in the vid.
• Blake Jenner jumps from Glee to the closest this movie has to a leading man. Backseat center.
• Quinton Johnson jumps off-screen. This newcomer could become a star. Backseat red & blue shirt.
• Zoey Deutch is slyly smart & super sexy.
• Tyler Hoechlin is like a second-rate Burt Reynolds. That’s a compliment.
• Dora Madison is super-cute as a blissed out party girl. The adorable Dora played Becky Sproles on Friday Night Lights, among other big TV roles.
• Wyatt Russell is ideal as a weed loving Californian pitcher, not a stretch for Kurt Russell & Goldie Hawn’s son, and Kate Hudson’s beloved brother.
• Other Notables: Will Brittain’s Billy Autrey, Forrest Vickery’s Coma, Tanner Kalina’s Bromley, Austin Amelio’s Nesbit, Juston Street’s Niles

Film - Really Great 4.5

Mellow House more than Animal House, EWS!! is a quasi-realistic comedy versus a total spoof. Happily, it’s LOL funny on several occasions, delivering quite a few more laughs than Dazed and Confused.

It also shares a time compression phenomena with its spiritual origin film. EWS’s realtime spans a little over three days, within which there’s always time for another party.

Why is this college film set in 1980, after Dazed and Confused was set in 1976? Richard Linklater’s life.

Cool Credit: Cat Wrangler – Bernie Tiede of Bernie fame

Edge - Risqué 2.5

Cars, girls, bros, ball, beer, bongs

Ill advised for those hurt by boorish behavior, date rape, heavy drinking and other amoral hedonism.

Reality - Glib 1.5

No crew of mostly white boys from Texas were karaoking rap in 1980. That’s too much for my willing suspension of disbelief right there. OK, I’m willing, but only because I’m easy when it comes to movie fun.

It’s also passing strange that there’s never a comment about a black guy hanging with a white crew.

Reality deviations asides, Everybody Wants Some!! is an unadulterated celebration of male privilege, mostly white male privilege at that.

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