MARKED MOVIES

Director: Richard Linklater.
Screenplay: Richard Linklater.
Starring: Blake Jenner, Glen Powell, Tyler Hoechlin, Wyatt Russell, Ryan Guzman, J. Quinton Johnson, Temple Baker, Austin Amelio, Zoey Deutch, Juston Street, Will Brittain, Tanner Kalina, Jonathan Breck.

“We came for a good time, not for a long time”

I have never been one to hide my admiration for director Richard Linklater. I’ve always found him to be a hugely talented filmmaker and he’s always struck me as a very intelligent and savvy individual. Whenever a new project of his arrives, I’m always filled with anticipation, especially one that’s been mentioned in the same breath as his indie classic Dazed and Confused. Why is it then, that Everybody Wants Some!! left me with ever so slight feelings of disappointment? This could simply be explained by having very high expectations so for that reason I waited until I watched the film again before making any final judgements on it. Turns out, my opinion didn’t change. Everybody Wants Some!! has many great qualities but it doesn’t quite hit the heights of its predecessor.

Plot: As he enters college in the 1980’s, freshman Jake (Blake Jenner) meets his other, hard partying, college baseball players where he learns navigate his way through the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood.

Linklater himself described Everybody Wants Some!! as a “spiritual sequel” to his 1994 indie classic Dazed and Confused. Where Dazed was set in a high-school in the 70’s, now we take a look a look at the 80’s and our characters entering their college years. In many ways, it feels like a continuation of the story except for the fact that the characters are no longer the same. This time we’re introduced to a new (and predominantly male) assortment of characters and the camaraderie is almost as infectious as we witnessed in Linklater’s earlier film. What’s most apparent, however, is Linklater’s keen eye for the period and his attention to detail on the style and sound of the 80’s is brilliantly realised. As the film is loosely autobiographical, Linklater has a solid handling on the proceedings as he reminisces about his own experiences while being involved in a baseball team in his school years; he captures the competitive nature among young men and fully realises the different personalities from an impressive ensemble. The one thing that stands out and sets it apart from Dazed and Confused, however, is the distinct lack of females. With the exception of Zoey Deutch there’s really no other female character that has anything to do but be eye candy for the testosterone fueled males. If it wasn’t so much fun watching these guys and Linklater hadn’t put a light spin on events, then the film would be bordering on misogyny. Thankfully, it manages to escape this pitfall and delivers a hugely entertaining journey where a lengthy 2 hour running time just flies by.

Not as accomplished as Dazed and Confusedbut it has enough style and innocent humour to keep the experience a pleasant one. Who knows, now that Linklater has covered the 70’s and 80’s, we might well get a 90’s version somewhere down the line. He has been known to extend his stories; The Before Trilogy and his Oscar nominated, 12 year project Boyhood were ambitious but hugely successful works. It wouldn’t be out of character for him and on the results so far, it would be a welcome completion to a vibrant trilogy. Time will tell.

Mark Walker

Trivia: As well as being a “spiritual sequel” to Dazed and Confused, according to Richard Linklater, the film is a continuation of Boyhood in terms of beginning right where Boyhood ends – with a guy showing up at college and meeting his new roommates and a girl

This entry was posted on December 16, 2017 at 12:35 am and is filed under Comedy, Sport with tags 2016. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.