It’s interesting when comparing Richard Linklater’s latest to the frat/high-school/summer-camp comedies made at the time it is set. The likes of the Porky’s and Revenge of the Nerds trilogies along with Meatballs, Screwballs and Better off Dead, were part of an 80s sub-genre spawned from the success of Animal House, before being revived with the American Pie franchise in the late 1990s. But none of the aforementioned (with the exception of Animal House, which was set in the 1960s) were crafted with the love for the time, or such a perspective afforded to flourish within their directors, as is the case with Richard Linklater and his “spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused”.
Those 80s teen comedies didn’t so much as celebrate the era in which they were set but defined the sub-genre and its stereotypes then extrapolated/exploited their animal, student antics. Everybody Wants Some!! iridescently commemorates 80s college life at a time when the period is being re-evaluated by modern pop culture. Now celebrated for its fashion and music where it was once written off as corporate, shallow, creatively barren, stylistically sterile and incapable of producing anything with a hint of artistic value. But perspective can be fickle, and here derives from a self-taught, fifty-five year old film director, fondly reminiscing on his old college days with a wry smile and glint in his lens.
The story follows Jake Bradford (Blake Jenner), an open-minded freshman/baseball pitcher who arrives at a decrepit college lodging to meet his new housemates: a team of over-competitive, baseball playing meat-heads governed by their primal urges to booze hard and copulate frequently. Jake and the clan then embark on a shimmering odyssey of parties, pranks, practice, fraternising and male bonding in a beer soaked epoch during the run up to a new term. Most of the crew are differentiated by moustaches, hair-dos and which stereotype they slot into. The dumb jock (Temple Baker), the cool guy McReynolds (Tyler Hoechin), the nerd Beuter (Will Brittain), the stoner Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), the weirdo Finnegan (Glen Powell) and finally the wild one Jay (Juston Street) are all accounted for but fade from memory by the time the end credits roll (don’t hang about for the awful closing cast rap).
The dialogue is a cross-section of coarse, sardonic exchanges and what meagre idiosyncrasies there are, are not effectively developed to adorn EWS!! with a fundamental, oddball essence which would have added some much needed novelty. The pals blend into an alcohol and testosterone fired, sweat-band gilded blob, or products of the pop culture they were primarily a part of, but maybe that was Linklater’s point. Context and perspective are the key facets of EWS!!, which would have drowned in the sea of lesser, comparable features if released at the time it was set. This is mostly due to the lack of a stirring story, memorable scenes, striking dialogue and likeable characters with goals to drive the narrative. But EWS!! resonates as a film about finding oneself in a sea of similarity then seeking out new trends and interesting people to broaden one’s horizon.
Several subcultures are explored as the clan attend hillbilly nights, punk gigs and a drama student party. Arcades, cassette tapes, pop/rock music, dated fashions and an assortment of now retro paraphernalia contribute to an elated mood and prevailing sense of the time, as Linklater looks back with a love and affection that filters through the film’s faults and augments it with validity. Some scenes and sequences are vivacious, punchy, relayed with a passion and mend well with the characters’ enthusiastic mantra to live life to the full. Performances are mostly outstanding, the soundtrack is excellent and, even though a lot of the dialogue is banal, it reverberates as a conversation these characters would probably have, with the exception of when baseball players sprout philosophical monologues to passing girls or Carl Sagan informed/Pink Floyd inspired gibberish from the throes of a marijuana meltdown.
Yet it is in these deeper, self-reflective moments where EWS!! resounds. They just take a little while to arrive. Even though EWS!! is nowhere near as refined or assembled as Boyhood, the Before trilogy or even its spiritual ancestor, it’s a film comprising capricious moments and how they should be celebrated. “We’re here for a good time, not a long time” states one of the characters before unexpectedly having to leave college, while making references to figuring out who you are and what you want out of life. While also being inappropriately blessed with the ability to roll fresh-faced from an apocalyptic hangover, straight into another night out without needing a clean pair of trousers or the following week off work.
