Important Movies

They're both pretty stupid and I never hear them referenced, even after only 7 years.

Because Superbad perfectly captures what it's like to be a teenager of the generation. The fact that the story is essentially about high school geeks trying to be cool by scoring some booze is very relateable. Of all the "high school" films in recent memory, Superbad is the one that feels the most authentic, oddly enough.

Knocked Up is the other pregnancy movie from 2007. It may have been Seth Rogen's break out role, but given his work in The 40 Year Old Virgin and Superbad, it's reasonable to assume he would have had a breakout at some point with or without Knocked Up.

But doesn't Knocked Up perfectly capture being an underachieving 20 something? You look at most of the Apatow-esque films that came in the wake of 2007 (Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Funny People, Bridesmaids, I Love You Man, This is 40, Zach and Miri Make a Porno, Neighbors, Sex Tape) and they all have more in common with Knocked Up.  It established the whole "Rom-com with dick jokes" formula.  Superbad on the other hand was mostly an entry in the usual "one crazy night" formula, it did it very well, but I feel like it was a well worn subject already in 2007 and afterwards it was the 20-30 set that dominated the R-rated comedy, not the high school set.

I understand where Ian is coming from. 2008 has The Dark Knight. 2009 has Avatar. 2010 has a long list of potential classics. But... you're right. He should have stopped at 2005. But it's too late now.



I agree with you... but... people have their selfish reasons for rejecting the movie. You HAVE to make room for There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Sunshine and other movies that people don't actually care about. 2007 was the other day. We KNOW what Hollywood and the mainstream think:

TRANSFORMERS - Theater attendance is at an all-time low, but people in large quantities will waste $11-per-ticket to watch a dumb, noisy, and mostly computer generated movie. Please, Hollywood, make more and more and more of these.
JUNO - Yay. The "quirky" Indie movie is popular.
ENCHANTED - Princesses are cool again.
KNOCKED UP - More Seth Rogen, please.
SUPERBAD - Michael Cera will be around forever and ever.

Knocked Up feels less like the movie that inspired all of those films, and more like just another in the trend. They all blend together. Superbad actually stands out in this regard. Plus, people seem to connect with stuff that speaks to their teenage years more so than anything else.



Just because the the average joe doesn't care too much about movies like No Country for Old Men doesn't mean they aren't important. Less people may care about those films, but those few care a lot more than the average fan of say, Transformers does.

I would argue that it did inspire them, or at least secure this as an ongoing trend and prove that The 40 Year Old Virgin wasn't just a fluke.  Additionally, I feel like it says more about our times and about this brand of comedy in general than Superbad does.  Teenagers have been procuring alcohol to seem cool at parties for generations, but this prolonged adolecence is a reletively recent phenomenon and that's a big reason why Knocked Up was still relevant when A.O. Scott penned that viral "The Death of Adulthood" article earlier this year.  The fact that Superbad stands out more just kind of proves to me that it didn't have the same degree of influence.

Like I said... Superbad is the Porky's and American Pie for PG Cooper's generation. It matters to his people and his people alone. But since his people will be the future... I guess it'll matter to everyone eventually. But for now, yeah, I'm with Dracula. Knocked Up is more "important."

Okay, so bringing everything together, these seem to be the movies: There will Be Blood, No Country, 300, Sunshine, and then either Juno or 4 months and whathaveyou in the 5th spot.

Sunshine doesn't belong there. I really like that movie, but I also remember seeing it in an empty theater and I doubt many non-film buffs would recognize the name. Since then it's found a little bit of a following on video, but most discussion of it enevitabley devolves into a discussion about whether or not the ending is forgivable. Beyond that though, I don't think the influence is really there. One could maybe make an argument that it was a precursor to Gravity and Intersteller, but really I don't think it did a whole lot that other space movies hadn't already tried.

I'd replace that with 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days and then put Knocked Up in the fifth slot (or Superbad if you must, one of the two Apatow comedies NEEDS to make it in IMO).

I'm okay with Sunshine not being in there. I think No Country should be in there tho.

Ugh, I'm impatient. Whatever. Let's just put these in and call it a day, geez:

Transformers
National Treasures: Book of Secrets
Dan in Real Life
Live Free or Die Hard
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