Mike got a chance to check out Everybody Wants Some. Read his excellent review.
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| Just four token white dudes. |
Richard Linklater has made a name for himself making
true-to-life, deeply felt films about youth.
From the one-two punch of his iconic debut films Slacker and Dazed
& Confused, through last year's Academy Award-winning Boyhood,
and even in his more commercial films like School of Rock, his young
characters speak in a voice that is truthful and down-to-earth in a way rarely
seen on screen. His latest film Everybody
Wants Some!! steers away from Boyhood's heavy drama and more toward Dazed's
light-hearted comedy, playing beautifully to all of Linklater's strengths and
resulting in yet another fantastic addition to his resume.
What little of a plot there is revolves around members of
the baseball team at a Texas college in the fall of 1980, and their escapades
on the all-important weekend before classes start for the year. This involves a lot of what you might
expect. Much of the action centers
around freshman pitcher Jake (Blake Jenner) as he gets to know his new
roommates/teammates. Story wise, it's
pretty simple. But like most Linklater
films, it isn't about the story, it's about the experience. We experience the weekend through Jake's
eyes, fresh with the excitement of new found freedom for the first
time. And as Jake, Jenner sells it. He's handsome, likable, and charismatic,
while somehow never overly confident or awkward. In other words, precisely the kind of person
the audience wants to root for.
Jenner is surrounded in true Linklater style by a cast of
mostly unknowns or little-knowns. This
tactic once again works in the film's favor, removing what might have been the
distraction of seeing an all-too-familiar face even under the late '70s hair
and mustache. Without the distraction of
star power each supporting character, while perhaps not the most layered or
complex (though it's not like they need to be), still gets a chance to
shine. Particularly great are Juston
Street as a talented but eccentric rival pitcher and Zoey Deutch as Beverly,
the "auburn-haired girl in room 307" to whom Jake takes a
liking. Time will tell if any of the
cast of Everybody Wants Some!! will go on to, say, Ben Affleck or
Matthew McConaughey-level fame, but the talent is certainly there.
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| One of these days, these corded things will barely exist. |
The real star of the show is Richard Linklater's writing and
directing. Linklater is one of today's
most celebrated American filmmakers, and Everybody Wants Some!! provides
even more evidence to back that up. Few
filmmakers have the kind of natural ability of capturing the experience of
youth that Linklater makes look effortless in film after film. Everything about these characters rings true
while never falling back on lazy teen/college party movie cliches. Characters discuss sexual exploits in one
scene and discuss music and philosophy over bong hits the next, but the
dialogue, as delivered by the talented cast, is believable and, most
importantly, timeless. The resulting
film clings to the tried-and-true tenets of the aforementioned college party
film, but has a depth and necessary realness that ensures that the audience is
invited to the party too.
Everybody Wants Some!! has been billed as a
"spiritual sequel" to both Dazed & Confused and Boyhood. This film certainly deserves a place at that
very exclusive table. Linklater's talent
for films that are as heavy in coming-of-age experience as they are light on
traditional three-act structure is once again ever-present here, and it works
beautifully. Linklater's dialogue and
direction give this film its heart, and his young cast provides plenty of
soul. Everybody Wants Some!! is
the kind of slice of youthful life that only Linklater could serve up, and it's once again hilarious, emotional, and fascinating.
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