Directed by Richard Linklater
Country: USA
Celebrated filmmaker, Richard Linklater, takes us to a modest Texas college at the beginning of the effervescent decade of the 80’s to tell us an energizing tale about a bunch of students who have in common the fact of being baseball players and love beautiful girls and exciting parties.
If “Boyhood”, shot over 12 years, was a richly intense and incredibly realistic drama, “Everybody Wants Some” is something totally different. To start, it’s a comedy, and a very American one in every sense, following the same lines as the 1993 success “Dazed and Confused”. It’s the type of film with which there is not much to learn, and still, we can’t take our eyes off the screen and pretend that nothing’s going on. Nostalgic in a positive way, the film is suffused with numerable feel-good situations that are sufficiently funny and vitalizing to retrieve the unforgettable vibes of that bygone era. The accurate visuals as a part of the unimpeachable period recreation and the lively performances by the boys did the rest.
The cute freshman, Jake (Blake Jenner), exhibiting a relaxed and content disposition, arrives at the campus where he introduces himself to his baseball teammates. The simple fact of being a pitcher is enough to provoke some initial friction in some of the old-timers, who end up accepting him with authority but also friendliness. Among the vets and freshmen there are a few who deserve a special mention: the seductive Finnegan (Glen Powell) who loves to talk about his penis with the girls; the competitive Glen McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin) who freaks out just for losing a ping-pong game; Jay Niles (Juston Street) who was transferred from Detroit carrying a risible bad temper; the cool dude, Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), whose biggest happiness is to smoke weed with friends; the weird Nesbit (Austin Amelio), champion of the silly knuckle-flicking game; and Billy Autrey (Will Brittain), also called Beuter, who is the most restrained of the guys due to his serious commitment with a girlfriend who says she may be pregnant.
With three days left before the beginning of classes, the enthusiastic guys have plenty of time to hang out together in bars and parties, where they drink, dance, and enjoy the company of beautiful young ladies.
The inevitable true romance is reserved for Jake and Beverly (Zoey Deutch), a smart first-year student of theater and dance.
As a curious observation, we conclude that there are no heroes or villains here, just likable characters with their very own personalities.
Mr. Linklater totally discards any type of drama as the little conflicts among some of the friends are easily and quickly forgiven and overcome. What he actually should have done was to give a bit more preponderance to the music throughout the film.
However, he shows how to turn an apparently trivial script into a good movie, just by creating the adequate spirit, as high as the title suggests.
“Everybody Wants Some” is a new American classic bursting with feel-good energies and the unequal grace of youth.
