Everybody Wants Some!! Review

<p>If you want to pinpoint one thing which Richard Linklater excels at more than any other director&comma; it is creating poignancy while capturing a moment&period; Maybe that moment is simply checking in every nine years on the same characters &lpar;<em>Before Sunrise&comma; Before Sunset <&sol;em>and <em>Before Midnight<&sol;em>&rpar;&semi; or it&&num;8217&semi;s watching a single individual live through the important moments of his life over twelve years &lpar;<em>Boyhood<&sol;em>&rpar;&semi; or in the case of <em>Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl;<&sol;em>&comma; it is the weekend before college when you&&num;8217&semi;re just rolling into a new phase of your life&period; Linklater continues to prove he is a force to be reckoned with as he has made one of his funniest films ever&comma; without sacrificing that poignancy which has elevated his previous films&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Following Jake &lpar;<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm4296357&sol;">Blake Jenner<&sol;a>&rpar; as he arrives to his college home for the next several years&comma; we watch him as he segues from high school life to the next step in adulthood&period; Him and the rest of his college baseball team maneuver through a weekend of partying and identity-discovering&comma; all without the supervision of adults&period; It is not difficult to call <em>Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl; <&sol;em>a spiritual successor to <em>Dazed and Confused<&sol;em>&comma; but it is difficult to watch this and not want more of the 80s setting&comma; these characters&comma; and Linklater&&num;8217&semi;s expert script&period; This is a movie that feels genuine at every turn&comma; and while it may come off as &&num;8216&semi;fluffy&&num;8217&semi; or &&num;8216&semi;light&&num;8217&semi; to some&comma; it earns its heartfelt moments because of it&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;104672" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-104672" style&equals;"width&colon; 1000px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-104672" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;04&sol;03192555&sol;everybody-wants-some-trailer-1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl;" width&equals;"1000" height&equals;"500" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-104672" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl;&comma; Annapurna Pictures&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The cast here is stellar&comma; bringing each line of dialogue to the screen as if they really are these characters&period; I have a hard time not seeing <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm0751518&sol;&quest;ref&lowbar;&equals;fn&lowbar;al&lowbar;nm&lowbar;1">Wyatt Russell<&sol;a> as Willoughby now&comma; or <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm1412974&sol;&quest;ref&lowbar;&equals;fn&lowbar;al&lowbar;nm&lowbar;1">Glen Powell<&sol;a> as Finnegan&period; Those were definitely the two stand outs of the cast&comma; but everyone is bringing themselves to the role in a refreshing way&period; The only character who feels like more of a caricature than anything is <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;imdb&period;com&sol;name&sol;nm5319167&sol;&quest;ref&lowbar;&equals;fn&lowbar;al&lowbar;nm&lowbar;1">Juston Street<&sol;a> as Dale &&num;8211&semi; a character so wound up in how awesome he thinks he is that he can&&num;8217&semi;t divorce himself from himself&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>It is the dynamics between the cast and characters that makes <em>Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl; <&sol;em>feel as light as it does&comma; though&period; Every time they interacted with one another&comma; I had a giant grin on my face&period; That doesn&&num;8217&semi;t come just from a likable cast&semi; it comes from the script encouraging playfulness while still maintaining a central conceit for each character&period; You have the pothead&comma; alpha male&comma; &&num;8220&semi;bro&&num;8221&semi;&comma; shy guy&comma; philosophical guy&comma; and the weirdo &&num;8211&semi; but never do those traits act as borders on a character&period; The pothead could be smoking pot and talking about the instrumentation on a song and how it transcends the human body&comma; but that doesn&&num;8217&semi;t mean he won&&num;8217&semi;t be caring and accepting of others despite colossal differences in opinion&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;104674" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-104674" style&equals;"width&colon; 1280px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-104674" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;04&sol;03192534&sol;twita05365r&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl;" width&equals;"1280" height&equals;"852" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-104674" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl;&comma; Annapurna Pictures&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The joy is to watch everyone play off each other&comma; but you can also easily find joy in the film&&num;8217&semi;s setting&period; The 80s aesthetic goes a long way&comma; as disco still persists in small doses&comma; &&num;8220&semi;My Sharona&&num;8221&semi; blasts through Jake&&num;8217&semi;s speakers&comma; the gang raps to The Sugarhill Gang&comma; the punk scene is emerging&comma; and bushy mustaches are still in style&period; The remnants of the 1970s can be felt strongly in <em>Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl; <&sol;em>but it generally feels like we&&num;8217&semi;re watching people who are in a complete adjustment period &&num;8211&semi; both in their own lives and the decade they live in&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This is why I go to Linklater movies though&period; He manages to take something that seems superficial and unimportant &&num;8211&semi; a bunch of college boys partying all weekend &&num;8211&semi; and turn it into something with weight&period; Jake isn&&num;8217&semi;t just a freshman to college&comma; he&&num;8217&semi;s a freshman to life&period; That kind of &&num;8220&semi;big picture&&num;8221&semi; thinking is what takes <em>Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl; <&sol;em>from being a riff on <em>National Lampoon&&num;8217&semi;s Animal House <&sol;em>to having the emotional staying power of Linklater&&num;8217&semi;s films like <em>Boyhood <&sol;em>or <em>Dazed and Confused<&sol;em>&period; It is fun and funny&comma; which makes it hard not to want to spend more time with <em>Everybody Wants Some&excl;&excl;<&sol;em><&sol;p>&NewLine;