This has been hailed as a “spiritual sequel” to writer/director Richard Linklater’s 1993 ensemble comedy Dazed and Confused, since Dazed concerns Texas high school students in 1976 and Everybody Wants Some concerns Texas college students in 1980.
Everybody Wants Some
Directed by Richard Linklater – 2016
Reviewed by Mark Tapio Kine
All right, fine, I’ll buy that. But Everybody Wants Some – its title taken from a Van Halen song, just as Dazed took its title from a Led Zeppelin song – is more like Linklater’s spin on the raunchy teen comedies of the early ’80s. It falls somewhere in between Porky’s and Fast Times at Ridgemont High in terms of substance, with less nudity and more street corner philosophizing, a Linklater trademark.
I myself was just a wee lad of ten in 1980, but I was still hoping to connect with Everybody Wants Some on some level. What I didn’t actually know, going in, is that unlike Dazed and Confused, which explores the full spectrum of teen types, Everybody Wants Some focuses on a team of college baseball players and their rambunctious exploits over the four days before the beginning of school.
In other words, this is a movie about jocks, how much fun they have, and how wonderful life is when you’re young, good-looking, and supremely self-confident. Your enjoyment of the film will thus be affected by how you feel about the subject matter.
Since Linklater is capturing these boisterous dudes during a very brief period, when they all feel immortal and disappointment is nowhere on the horizon, Everybody Wants Some has no dark side. It’s all party. There are some wry insights here and there, and Linklater and his cast of unknowns excel at depicting a score of rich, real-seeming characters, but I personally could not drum up any interest in them.
Despite the machismo on display, this is a harmless “hangout movie” and you might have a good time with it, especially if you used to be involved in team sports and feel nostalgic for that period of your life. As for me, I didn’t dislike the film. It just didn’t draw me in.
> Playing at Laemmle Playhouse 7, and Pacific Theatres Glendale 18.
Mark Tapio Kines is a film director, writer, producer and owner of Cassava Films. You can reach Mark here.
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