Everybody Wants Some!! review

EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!:

THE DAZED AND CONFUSED OF THE 1980S!

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

Everybody Wants Some, I Want Some To!

            In 1993, director, Richard Linklater (Dazed and Confused, Before Sunset, Boyhood) brought the 1970s to the 1990s with Dazed and Confused and in 2014 he followed children maturing into adulthood for twelve years in the Oscar® winning film, Boyhood. Now Linklater brings the 1980s to the 2010s with Everybody Wants Some!!

            Like Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some!! Is a humorous and also touching love letter to classic nostalgia, this time with the 80s. You name it, 8 track players, guys in cars cranking up classic rock and bopping their heads, bar fights, hijinks galore, it beautifully re-enacts the 1980s, while still managing to be a funny college comedy.

            Usually I would nitpick stereotypes in films, but the film captures people in the 80s very well, the shy oddball, the loudmouth, the leader, the black guy, the pothead, and the angry guy they like to screw around with. And the actors they got are so good and funny at portraying these stereotypes, I felt I left 2016 and went back in time to the 1980s, it’s like if Back to the Future wasn’t a sci-fi adventure movie.

            Set in the 1980s, the film follows a group of college freshmen, Jake (Blake Jenner-Glee, Supergirl), Kenny (Ryan Guzman-Step Up: Revolution, Step Up: All In, There’s Always Woodstock), Glen (Tyler Hoechlin-Road to Perdition, CSI: Miami, Teen Wolf), Finnegan (Glen Powell-The Great Debaters, The Dark Knight Rises, Scream Queens), Willoughby (Wyatt Russell-Law & Order: LA, Arrested Development, 22 Jump Street), and Billy Autrey (Will Brittain-A Teacher, Lila & Eve, Kong: Skull Island) that become successful baseball players that play hard on and off the diamond. But playing baseball doesn’t get in the way of goofy college hijinks and pranks, drinking, bong smoking, wild frat parties, sex, everything.

            Overall, Everybody Wants Some!! Is a very well-made tribute to the 1980s, the cinematography and production design looks like a film that was made in the 80s, seriously, am I still in 2016? But aside from depicting 80s lifestyle well, the film in general is a funny and sweet comedy about friends, love, and hijinks, who doesn’t love any of those things?

            The characters are all stereotypes, but they’re in a movie where you really don’t care, I forgot I was watching actors, I thought for sure I was watching real people living in the 80s and I love films that can represent humans in specific lifestyles very well. Also the raunchy gross-out humor is in there, but surprisingly they don’t make it the focus of the film’s comedy, don’t get me wrong there’s lots of drinking, swearing, pranks, crude games, and sex jokes, but it’s not like the American Pie or Hangover movies where it’s practically the majority of the film, no, they keep it to a minimum, which is odd but a breath of fresh air.

            What’s put around the gross out humor is time to develop its characters, yes, they’re all 80s stereotypes but they’re also a group of friends, causing a ruckus, and having the time of their lives, basically Dazed and Confused inspired many of the raunchy comedies we have today and this movie practically perfected its formula.

            If you were born or grew up in the 80s, chances are you’ll want to check Everybody Wants Some!! Out, it’s a perfect representation of life in the 80s, and even if you take that element out, you still get a funny and sweet comedy with lots of goofy moments.

            Linklater is definitely on a roll with his films and hopefully this will lead to more great movies in his filmography. Granted I didn’t think it was as great as Boyhood but I certainly enjoyed it just as much as Dazed and Confused, Everybody Wants Some, I Want Some Too!