(spoiler free)
Richard Linklater returns, and this time not with a film that was twelve years in the making. ‘Boyhood’ is the only film I’ve seen of Linklater’s and I wasn’t as impressed by it as everyone else was. It’s such an accomplishment but I just didn’t find it that entertaining. Somewhat as a result of that I’d kind of written off ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ but I decided to give it a chance.
The film really isn’t about too much narratively. It follows Jake, a freshman baseball player about to start college and the antics that him and his new team mates get up to in the three days leading up to the start of class. The fact that the narrative isn’t really too tied down by any major plot points was really refreshing and it meant that cliches were avoided so well. The film’s two main subjects are the 80’s and baseball, two things that I know very little about so I had accepted that I probably wouldn’t get the film and therefore wouldn’t enjoy it. How wrong was I though as ‘Everybody Want’s Some!!’ actually turned out to be a very entertaining movie. I thoroughly enjoyed the flashback to this era and although I can’t comment on the likeness to the decade it certainly felt like an authentic representation of the styles of the time. The music featured was great too, it always fitted with the scenes well and offered some amusing moments. One other small positive was the fact that the music from the trailer actually features in the film, it bugs me so much when a cool track is used in the trailer and then when it’s absent from the film. ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ did well with this aspect.
The film is effortlessly funny and the best thing about this comedy is just how real it feels. It’s never forced and doesn’t require big build ups to gags you can see coming a mile off. Instead thanks to the cast and the characters this group of college guys have a great likeability and a chemistry that keeps the laughs coming throughout the film. The cast all impressed me being believable in a decade which some of them never lived in. The cast was largely unknown to me, other than Ryan Guzman who I only know from trashy movies such as the ‘Step Up’ franchise or ‘The Boy Next Door’. This seems like his first credible role and I’ll be looking out for the other cast members here from now on too. Much of the success of the film comes from the script though, the dialogue is written in a way that can hold the attention of the viewer, progress the scene and offer comic relief. It’s really the backbone of this film and ties all the other brilliant elements together.
I’d reccomend that anyone who’s written this film off as maybe not their thing to give it a chance. I know that I had done this but was so glad that I decided to see it. With an authenticity across the board with every single element the film, ‘Everybody Wants Some!!’ is a great time at the cinema and a film which should be revisited again and again.
Rating – 8/10
Question: What’s your favourite college movie?
(Leave your answers in the comments section below!)
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