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Over the decades, there are plenty of movies that have attempted to capture the uniquely awkward essence of the high school experience.
John Hughes did that multiple times in the 1980s with films like The Breakfast Club and Sixteen Candles, while the 1990s spawned classics like Clueless, Dazed and Confused, and 10 Things I Hate About You.
However, as far as I’m concerned, there haven’t been any projects that have nailed that particular slice of life (while delivering a ton of incredible jokes in the process) quite like Superbad, which featured a star-studded cast and an over-the-top storyline that perfectly encapsulated the great length high schoolers will go to try to fit in with the rest of their peers.
It’s been more than 15 years since Superbad debuted in theaters, and it remains one of the best (if not the best) high school movies ever made.
Seth Rogen basically said as much during a recent interview with People where he discussed the film’s legacy while relaying an interaction he had with a younger actor on the set of The Fabelmans, saying:
“What’s crazy is that Gabe LaBelle is like, 19 years old, and his and his friends’ favorite movie is Superbad.
So it never changed for some reason. No one’s made a good high school movie since then.”
Now, it’s obviously worth noting the outlet said it was clear the man known for acting in and writing dozens of beloved comedy projects over the years was “joking” when he asserted no one has made a “good” high school movie since 2007.
As a result, there’s not really any reason to get Mad Online over a fairly innocuous comment. Unfortunately, that hasn’t stopped plenty of people from taking things a bit too seriously while defending the honor of post-Superbad high school movies like Easy A, Ladybird, and Booksmart after Rogen supposedly disrespected them.
@Sethrogen Ladybird was nominated for Best Picture man https://t.co/i55DKrTrxi
— #1 Spiky-Ear Pichu Fan (@orbeetlemania) February 3, 2023
Not going to pretend Superbad isn’t hilarious just because Rogen sucks now. Project X doesn’t hold a candle to it. His blind spots with this statement are Easy A and Edge of 17 but other than that Seth isn’t wrong. https://t.co/yAh8vd4c4O
— Sigh Abelman (@schrutedit) February 2, 2023
https://twitter.com/davidsabryg/status/1621213364495044608
What is clear is Rogen has a pretty high standard for high school movies, as Judd Apatow previously revealed the actor and his co-stars declined to pursue a sequel to Superbad because they didn’t feel it would come close to matching the quality of the original.