Movie Review: Everybody Wants Some!!
What We Liked
What We Didn't Like
Adolescence gets a loudmouthed love letter with Everybody Wants Some!!, the latest outing from writer/director Richard Linklater. Dropping the grandiose ambition of Boyhood (2014) and returning to his Dazed and Confused (1993) groove, the Texas filmmaker takes fans back to the days of crop tops, Van Halen, and mustaches to die for. Marketed as a “spiritual sequel” to the stoner classic, and swapping out the last day of school for the weekend before class, Everybody Wants Some!! funnels its story through the keg stand of a college baseball team. As such, former athlete Linklater straps the gloves on and knocks this hilarious outing clear over the center field fence.
From the very start, this movie puts out good vibes. With “My Sharona” thumping through stereo speakers, freshman Jake Bradford (Blake Jenner) cruises into college town circa 1980, flowing with loud personas and even louder hairstyles. Put up in a boarding house with his teammates, Bradford’s inquisitive nature sets Everybody Wants Some!! off with a meet-and-greet facade.
It’s a little awkward in spots, and hesitant in laughter, but this opener proves crucial in setting up the fuzzy faces the film will follow: smartass Finnegan (Glen Powell), all-star McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin), ladies’ man Roper (Ryan Guzman), and mentor Dale (Quinton Johnson). Each hombre is allotted a character type much like those in Dazed and Confused, though the infused variable of being a killer athlete provides some fresh perspective as the plot progresses. Most of these guys won’t make it to the big leagues, and Linklater seems only too happy to let these goofballs live out their heyday through house parties and colorful phrases (“f*ckwithery” and “dipsh*tification” being among the more notable). But before we get there, some shameless pick-up lines and a bouncy rendition of “Rapper’s Delight” floor this thing into full-throttle fun.
The gas doesn’t let up after that, the film frantically follows the team in pursuit of the almighty score. Whether boogying down to disco or honky-tonking at the local country club, Bradford and his bros will do whatever it takes to sweet talk the ladies. On a superficial level, this qualifies the film with any number of generic comedies. But Linklater, ever the closet intellectual, takes this macho myth and supplies his jocks with the ability to spot their own stupidity. Excluding the psychotic Jay Niles (Juston Street), who provides some of the picture’s biggest laughs, each player on the team identifies their own identity crisis, only to shrug it off and forge ahead with reckless abandon. “Who am I?” may be a pressing question for these young men, but such boring topics are merely pushed off into the eternal tomorrow. In this regard, Everybody Wants Some!! is the thinking frat guy’s farce – a conversation about why guys do dumb stuff, while they just so happen to be doing it.
As for alignment with Dazed and Confused, Linklater peppers in homage every chance he gets. Pinball and foosball make their obligatory appearances, as does a soundtrack that covers the gamut of early 1980s radio: Blondie, The Cars, Cheap Trick, and SOS Band being only a few to crack the eclectic cut. There’s even an heir apparent to Matthew McConaughey’s Wooderson in the form of Willoughby, the hippie senior. Played with gusto by Kurt Russell’s son Wyatt, the young actor dishes on ESP and embracing one’s own oddities with quotable bravado to spare. Whether ranting about musical prowess or being able to take the team’s biggest bong hit, this star-making turn supplies the film with it’s half-baked mascot.
At the center of it all is Jake, the enigmatic eyes of the audience, who pines for drama student Beverly (Zoey Deutch) as much as he does a starting spot on the squad. Though comprising only a small portion of the film, the burgeoning banter between these two add an element of romance that elevates Everybody Wants Some!! even further. Linklater is no stranger to young love, as evidenced by the beautiful Before Trilogy, but this subplot to a plotless tale fills out the check box for a complete college experience. A crazed theater party, a late night swim, and an early morning departure wind this thing to a warming close, almost as if a worn snapshot come to life.
In this, the film’s final moments, Linklater harkens back to the sun-dabbled sincerity of Dazed and Confused, complete with clowning and romance to boot. Though with Jake, his pensive doppelgänger, the director narrows focus to a simple nodding off in class; sly grin and all. Like Mitch Kramer before him, the rookie pitcher is having the time of his life, and the future looks brighter than ever. Linklater may have dropped out of his alma mater before graduation, but the recollection of its magical chaos remains a vivid triumph. Cherish Everybody Wants Some!!, gems like this don’t often come along.
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