Everybody Wants Some - directed by Richard Linklater
Starring: Blake Jenner, Juston Street, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Wyatt Russell, Glen Powell, Temple Baker, Courtney Tailor, Taylor Murphy, J Quinton Johnson, Zoey Deutch, Christina Burdette
Screenplay: Richard Linklater
Richard Linklater has some highly regarded movies in his lenghty filmography.
Perhaps the most revered is his "Dazed and Confused".
It launched a bunch of careers such as Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey and even Ben Affleck.
Now with "Everybody Wants Some" he brings us not a sequel to his 1993 classic but a spiritual successor.
This is a little slice of life movie about a houseful of Baseball players in the days leading up to the start of their College semester in Texas.
The first of the crew that we meet is Jake (Blake Jenner) who is Freshman pitcher.
He arrives in town in his muscle car with boxes of records in the back seat.
He leers out of his open window at a cavalcade of college girls.
When he arrives at the house which will be his home for his time in college the first thing he must deal with is a close to disastrous attempt to fill a waterbed.
Oh yes.... this movie is set in 1980
This means that the music that is so important to the tone of the film and to the characters in it features such delights as Hot Chocolate's 'Everyone's A Winner', M's 'Pop Music', Blondie's 'Heart of Glass', Cheap Trick's 'I Want You To Want Me' and The Knack's 'My Sharona' which starts the movie off utterly perfectly.
Music is discussed and dissected by many of the characters in the film but even when it isn't it features strongly as music at the many parties the young men attend.
The second major focus of "Everybody Wants Some" is women and the lead characters pursuit of them.
This amounts to perfecting pickup speeches - one character has an audaciously honest spiel about the average-ness of his appendage.
Some of the dialogue surrounding women is very slick.
If does occasionally feel too deliberately like movie dialogue being recited but it gets away with it.
The cast seem to be having a blast playing these characters and by having no big name actors they come with no baggage.
In fact it is hard to pick a favourite.
Blake Jenner is good as Jake - a man who may ogle women but ultimately reveals himself to be a very nice, very honourable character.
The default leaders of the group are the team captain McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin) and the keen observer of human behaviour Finnegan (Glen Powell)
Some of Finnegan's thoughts and theories are highly entertaining.
It may seem odd that I haven't discussed the plot of the film but in fact I pretty much have.
Basically "Everybody Wants Some" is a slice of life piece showing the few days before classes start.
It is a series of scenes in bars, at parties and in the house with only one baseball sequence.
There are tensions between several characters at different times and constant pranking and name calling but there isn't a common thread or a storyline as such.
The closet it comes to one is the budding romance between Jake and Beverly (Joey Deutch)
Ironically I found this to be the weakest element in the film - it lacks any spark for all but one scene.
Deutch is pretty and appealing however.
What does work is the humour.
This proved to be a surprisingly funny movie.
Mostly it is the dialogue doing the work but there are some nice visual humour moments.
Combined with the killer soundtrack, some great dialogue and a superb sense of time period this is a really entertaining and unique film.
It closes with a satisfying ending that feels just right and all to the strains of The Cars ironic "Good Times Roll"
RATING: 77 / 100
CONCLUSION: A fun couple of hours with a killer soundtrack, loads of laughs and finely crafted dialogue.
Screenplay: Richard Linklater
Music Score by: NA
Cinematography: Shane F. Kelly
Edited by: Sandra Adair
Running Time: 117 minutes
Language: English
Rated: TBC - profanity, drug use and some nudity
Cinematography: Shane F. Kelly
Edited by: Sandra Adair
Running Time: 117 minutes
Language: English
Rated: TBC - profanity, drug use and some nudity
Richard Linklater has some highly regarded movies in his lenghty filmography.
Perhaps the most revered is his "Dazed and Confused".
It launched a bunch of careers such as Matthew McConaughey, Milla Jovovich, Rory Cochrane, Adam Goldberg, Joey Lauren Adams, Parker Posey and even Ben Affleck.
Now with "Everybody Wants Some" he brings us not a sequel to his 1993 classic but a spiritual successor.
This is a little slice of life movie about a houseful of Baseball players in the days leading up to the start of their College semester in Texas.
The first of the crew that we meet is Jake (Blake Jenner) who is Freshman pitcher.
He arrives in town in his muscle car with boxes of records in the back seat.
He leers out of his open window at a cavalcade of college girls.
When he arrives at the house which will be his home for his time in college the first thing he must deal with is a close to disastrous attempt to fill a waterbed.
Oh yes.... this movie is set in 1980
This means that the music that is so important to the tone of the film and to the characters in it features such delights as Hot Chocolate's 'Everyone's A Winner', M's 'Pop Music', Blondie's 'Heart of Glass', Cheap Trick's 'I Want You To Want Me' and The Knack's 'My Sharona' which starts the movie off utterly perfectly.
Music is discussed and dissected by many of the characters in the film but even when it isn't it features strongly as music at the many parties the young men attend.
 |
| Some of the main cast with Blake Jenner as Jake at far left and second from right |
This amounts to perfecting pickup speeches - one character has an audaciously honest spiel about the average-ness of his appendage.
Some of the dialogue surrounding women is very slick.
If does occasionally feel too deliberately like movie dialogue being recited but it gets away with it.
The cast seem to be having a blast playing these characters and by having no big name actors they come with no baggage.
In fact it is hard to pick a favourite.
Blake Jenner is good as Jake - a man who may ogle women but ultimately reveals himself to be a very nice, very honourable character.
The default leaders of the group are the team captain McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin) and the keen observer of human behaviour Finnegan (Glen Powell)
Some of Finnegan's thoughts and theories are highly entertaining.
 |
| Much of the film involves parties and drinking |
Basically "Everybody Wants Some" is a slice of life piece showing the few days before classes start.
It is a series of scenes in bars, at parties and in the house with only one baseball sequence.
There are tensions between several characters at different times and constant pranking and name calling but there isn't a common thread or a storyline as such.
The closet it comes to one is the budding romance between Jake and Beverly (Joey Deutch)
Ironically I found this to be the weakest element in the film - it lacks any spark for all but one scene.
Deutch is pretty and appealing however.
What does work is the humour.
This proved to be a surprisingly funny movie.
Mostly it is the dialogue doing the work but there are some nice visual humour moments.
Combined with the killer soundtrack, some great dialogue and a superb sense of time period this is a really entertaining and unique film.
It closes with a satisfying ending that feels just right and all to the strains of The Cars ironic "Good Times Roll"
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