13 Movies Like Superbad That Are Even Funnier
It's easy to forget this now, but in 2007, Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, and Emma Stone were not well known figures in the world of comedy, or movies more generally. Thanks in part to "Superbad," though, they all became household names. The movie, which tells the story of two teenage friends who try to stage a high school rager, was a launching pad for a new generation of comedic talents, and that's thanks in part to the number of laughs it was able to generate from audiences.
"Superbad" is now considered close to timeless, and there's not likely to be a sequel any time soon. There are plenty of movies that owe it an enormous debt. Superbad was one of the first movies in a new wave of comedies through the late 2000s and early 2010s, and many of the funniest movies that came after it owe it a great deal.
For every movie that owes Superbad a comedic debt, though, there's also at least one movie that influenced the movie "Superbad" ultimately became. These are some of the best "Superbad"-esque movies that are even funnier than that teen comedy classic.
Booksmart
Of the movies on this list, "Booksmart" probably has the most in common with "Superbad." Both movies follow a pair of friends who have one last wild night together as they prepare to separate and go off to college. With "Booksmart," though, the twist is that the girls at the movie's center, played by Kaitlyn Deaver and Beanie Feldstein (the real life sister of "Superbad" star Jonah Hill), are smart kids who have spent their entire high school careers carefully avoiding the party scene that consumes so many of their friends.
Eventually, they realize that, although they have bright futures, they missed out on some fundamental high school experiences. That's what ultimately leads them embark on their wild night, which features some similar comedic bits to the events of "Superbad." They run into a teacher, take some drugs, and have a climactic fight that resembles the fight at the heart of "Superbad." Both movies' sense of humor definitely comes from the same place, and it's clear that "Superbad" is an influence.
"Booksmart" is able to tilt the white, male, heteronormative perspective of "Superbad" in particularly interesting ways. Teenage dudes have plenty of feelings to work through, but every demographic of teens deserves to have some onscreen love.
Pineapple Express
Coming out just a year after "Superbad," "Pineapple Express" was molded by the same comedic sensibility. The movie, which stars Seth Rogen and James Franco, has a similarly wild energy, but is focused on a slightly older pair of friends. The film follows a process server and his weed dealer as they go on the run after witnessing hitmen commit a murder.
In addition to its similar comedic sensibility, "Pineapple Express" also shares some key cast members with "Superbad." The film stars Seth Rogen, who plays one of the cops in "Superbad," and Bill Hader, who plays his partner in "Superbad," also has a role in this film.
Because the two films came out just a year apart, they share a perspective on how to make people laugh. There's a willingness in both films to allow for a certain level of improv, and to create situations that feel funny in ways that also reflect a juvenile sensibility common in this era. Judd Apatow movies are about young men learning how to grow up, and "Pineapple Express" shifts the focus from actual teenagers to adult men who are still acting like high schoolers.
Good Boys
"Good Boys" basically takes the premise of "Superbad" and puts it in an even smaller package. The movie follows three pre-teen friends who are trying to attend a party hosted by the popular kids in their class. On their way to the party, they go through a series of misadventures. They wind up with some ecstasy, and need to get to the mall to replace a broken drone. These little quests inevitably compound on one another, and the run-in with drugs is a hallmark of the genre that "Superbad" shares.
One of the joys of the film is the sheer vulgarity on display from these kids, who talk more like actual 6th graders than most kids of that age do in movies. While the humor is certainly heightened, "Good Boys" gets a lot of its comedic value out of adapting situations that are regular problems for teenagers to a slightly younger group of main characters.
The movie didn't have nearly the same cultural footprint as "Superbad," but it's undoubtedly indebted to its legacy. If you're sick of watching teen comedies filled with ridiculous situations but you want something similar featuring a slightly younger, more confused demographic, "Good Boys" may be just the thing.
Everybody Wants Some!!
Although both "Superbad" and "Everybody Wants Some!!" are both about teenage boys, the movies don't initially seem to have very much to do with each other. "Everybody Wants Some!!" is about a freshman baseball player arriving at college and being taught the ropes by his older teammates. It's very much a hangout movie, one set in the 1980s. "Superbad" is much more explicit and raunchy, and it's more focused on its comedic elements.
That doesn't mean, however, that "Everybody Wants Some!!" isn't hilarious. The movie finds humor in plenty of situations, but that humor is feels more realistic than much of what happens in "Superbad."
"Superbad" is a movie about one wild night. It's the kind of movie that would surely be a story that its characters tell for years afterward. "Everybody Wants Some!!" is set over a similar length of time, and features some occasionally wild behavior. What it's really about, though, is the subtle way that new friendships are formed through situations that may initially seem insignificant. If "Superbad" is a movie about old friends learning how to live without one another, "Everybody Wants Some!!" is about the next step: striking out on your own, and hoping that you find something good.
Blockers
"Blockers" has all of the raunchy teen party comedy that has defined the genre since "Superbad," but it comes with a twist. Although "Blockers" has some young people at its center, the movie is also very much about what it means to let your teen daughter grow up.
The film follows three high school seniors who make a pact to lose their virginity on prom night. After their parents find out about the plan, they set out on a quest to stop it, and hilarity ensues.
There are several sequences in "Blockers" that are among the funniest of the decade, including one sequence in particular features John Cena's square dad ingest beer in a creative way to discover the location of his daughter. Cena sells the sequence hard. The film, which also stars Leslie Mann, Kathryn Newton, and Gideon Adlon, creates comedy out of putting old people into situations that only young people typically find themselves in.
Although "Blockers" isn't afraid to get raunchy, there's a beautiful lesson buried in the film about parents who are struggling to let go of the children who have become their whole world. Growing up is difficult, but watching a person you love grow up can be just as hard.
American Pie
Although a movie like "Superbad" has plenty of predecessors, "American Pie" is one of the most readily apparent. Much like "Superbad" and even "Blockers," "American Pie" is following a group of friends who are on the verge of graduating from high school. In this case, the teen friends all pledge to lose their virginity before their graduation, and the movie chronicles their attempts to make that happen, often in raunchy and gratuitous detail.
"American Pie" wasn't the first teen sex comedy of its kind, but it's hard to deny the movie's influence on "Superbad" and the movies are frequently compared online. Both feature gross-out humor and plenty of awkward pubescent sex jokes, but "Superbad" is ultimately a slightly more wholesome experience than "American Pie." Both movies are both about staring into the future as you transition into adulthood, and wondering if you're ready to make that giant leap. Both movies also have drunk teens being idiots.
21 Jump Street
"21 Jump Street" may be the most obvious inclusion on this list. Just like "Superbad," it stars Jonah Hill, and both movies are also set primarily in high school. In the case of "21 Jump Street," Hill's character isn't actually in high school, and one of the film's big jokes is that both he and co-star Channing Tatum can no longer really pass as high school students.
Even so, they play a pair of undercover agents who planted in a normal high school to contain the spread of synthetic drug that's spreading through the school. The movie is an adaptation of a the show of the same name, which starred Johnny Depp, but it takes a decidedly more comedic approach to the material. Directors Phil Lord and Christopher Miller have become well known for their willingness to tell as many jokes as possible, and "21 Jump Street" is a perfect example of that. It's a little more adult than "Superbad," but Hill and Tatum still bring plenty of youthful energy to the film.
The Other Guys
In the late 2000s and early 2010s, there were really two directors pushing comedy forward. One was Judd Apatow, who didn't direct "Superbad" but did produce it. The other director was Adam McKay, whose primary collaborator was Will Ferrell. The latter two produced a string of great comedies during that period.
Perhaps McKay's most incisive film is "The Other Guys," which like "21 Jump Street," follows cops on the beat of a case. In this case, those cops are Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, who uncover a massive financial scheme. The movie, which was released in the wake of the 2008 recession, certainly has something on its mind about the corrupt nature of the American financial system.
In a way, it presaged the more explicitly political work that McKay would eventually do in films like "Vice" and "The Big Short." Ultimately, though, "The Other Guys" is still a comedy first, and one that has a certain go-for-broke philosophy like "Superbad." The core dynamic, which is between an overachieving square and a rogue, also resembles the friendship at the center of "Superbad," even if Ferrell and Wahlberg are playing cops instead of high schoolers.
MacGruber
"MacGruber" was not a success critically or commercially when it was initially released. In the years since, though, it has gained a cult following. "MacGruber" is an explicit riff on "MacGyver," a TV show about a man with a genius-level intellect staves off disaster in creative ways.
The film follows MacGruber (Will Forte), a parody version of MacGyver who was originally a character on "Saturday Night Live." In those original sketches, the premise was that MacGruber would be tasked with diffusing a bomb, only to be distracted by personal issues that ultimately lead to the bomb's detonation. In the movie, things go a little bit better for the character, and he's able to successfully take down his bad guy.
Although it may not seem like "MacGruber" and "Superbad" have much in common, they're both deeply committed to their bits. "Superbad" has a premise that is admittedly easy to commit to — there are plenty of teen gross-out comedies, and "Superbad" falls squarely into the best of that genre, but it knows exactly how to use that genre to its benefit. Similarly, "MacGruber" works in part because it presents every one of its hilarious scenarios without smirking at its audience. By heightening the stakes to the point of absurdity, "MacGruber" points out how silly secret agent movies have always been, even when they aren't trying to be.
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Yet another movie on this list that features Jonah Hill, "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" feels like the kind of movie that Michael Cera's character would grow up to star in. The movie stars Jason Segel as a man of middling success who has been dating the star of a hugely successful TV series (Kristen Bell). When she breaks up with him, he decides to take a Hawaiian vacation to get over the breakup, only to discover that both she and her new lover (Russell Brand) are also there.
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" features a lot of Apatow's regular players (Bill Hader also shows up in this film), but the movie has a tenderness that makes it one of the most affecting movies of its kind. There's still some sex jokes in there, including a memorable seen of Segel appearing completely nude on camera. Under all that, though, it's a movie about moving on with your life, and about how unsatisfying it can be to make a change and then discover that all your problems are still there. "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" has plenty of laughs, but it feels like the sadder and more contemplative older brother of "Superbad."
This Is the End
If you were looking for a spiritual sequel to "Superbad," you can't do much better than "This is the End." The movie follows a group of movie star friends who gather for a house party as the world ends. The movie stars Jonah Hill, and features a brief appearance from Michael Cera before he dies during the apocalypse. In addition to Hill, the movie also features Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, and Craig Robinson, all of whom are playing versions of themselves.
"Superbad" is ostensibly about a thing that could really happen. There are plenty of crazy hijinks, but ultimately, the movie is telling a story about two friends who are terrified of the future. "This is the End" has none of the same pretensions about having an emotional story — it's a comedy through and through. The movie features some truly bizarre plot turns, and Emma Watson also shows up for a second. On the whole, though, "This is the End" is one of the funniest movies of the 2010s, and proof that Hill and the rest of that comedy gang have plenty of staying power.
Girls Trip
"Superbad" is a pretty wild movie, but it's about teenagers, which means there are certain lines that it can't cross. To its enormous credit, "Girls Trip" does not have those same concerns. The movie follows four friends who travel to New Orleans together to reconnect after a long time apart.
Although the film has plenty to say about the friendships between these four women, it's important to note how deeply hilarious the film is. Every performance is spot on, but given her relative anonymity before the film was released, it's remarkable how much Tiffany Haddish manages to steal the show. She stars in the film alongside Regina Hall, Jada Pinkett-Smith, and Queen Latifah, and each one of the film's characters feels fully realized.
The movie's central characters don't share a demographic with "Superbad," but these are two go-for-broke comedies about what it means to be friends with another person through the changes they experience in their lives. The kids in "Superbad" are going through their first changes, but as the ladies of "Girls Trip" know, that change is far from the last.
Daddy's Home
There's a certain undeniable chemistry between Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell. In "Daddy's Home," they're resurrecting the dynamic they established in "The Other Guys," with Wahlberg playing a cool, care-free dad, and Ferrell playing the new, much more square step-dad. It's a fairly simple dynamic, but one that plays out to hilarious results.
Although "Daddy's Home" was not a huge critical success when it was initially released, it has since gained some traction thanks to a few key endorsements from names like Sofia Coppola.
The dynamic between Hill and Cera doesn't fit as neatly into the binary that's established by "Daddy's Home," but there's a similar sense that these are two fundamentally different kinds of people. Ferrell's step-dad is the antithesis of cool, and he sometimes feels like an adult version of Cera's "Superbad" character. Wahlberg, on the other hand, is much cooler than any of the main characters in "Superbad," but the dynamic between his character and Ferrell's nonetheless brings "Superbad" to mind, thanks in part to the way he and Ferrell's character ultimately come to rely on each other.