Nato – Superbad
We all have that one friend who just never seems to have good intentions about anything, influencing others to carry out the most moronic and asinine of tasks just for their own twisted reasons. My dear friend Al highlighted how Ferris Bueller steers his best friend Cameron wrong every step of the way, but I’m going with a much more recent film which newer generations can attest to – Seth from Superbad.
Yes, Jonah Hill’s foul-mouthed wanna-be popular high school star may be Evan’s (Michael Cera) best friend and all might have ended on a sweet note, but Seth’s actions while the events are unfolding are questionable every single step of the way. Not only are his actions misguided and selfish, but Evan always seems to be caught in the middle of Seth’s antics just by default. Whether he’s running from the cops, getting into fights with random bros, or coming off as a completely sick pervert, Evan is seemingly just along for the disastrously bumpy ride, stuck in the passenger’s seat because of a long-standing friendship.
Evan is your stereotypical “good kid” – brainiac grades, admitted to a good college, not really a hit with the ladies, doesn’t really participate in the weekly parties and other social activities, probably considered a “nerd” amongst high school cliques, only really has his best friend Seth to rely on…I mean he’s really what some might call a loser. Evan is content with his life though, and happy with being himself, but Seth isn’t.
Although he hides it, Seth is actually jealous and upset Evan is leaving him for a college life far from home, letting these emotions cloud his judgement as the twerp-tastic duo attempts to see high school off with a bang (literally, they are trying to get laid). But while Evan plays the voice of reason as much as possible, Seth starts letting go of reality and embraces a new attitude of sincerely not caring. Of course, this only leads to reckless behavior which brings mostly pain and hardship to Evan and their other friend Fogell (also known as Christopher Mintz-Plasse’s breakout character McLovin).
Along the way they are beaten down both mentally and physically, harassed by classmates, embarrassed by inexperience, and wrongfully entered into horrible situations because of Seth’s poor judgement. Just look at his decision to steal beer from Mark’s party – Seth and Evan are almost trampled in a riot which is started by Seth’s big mouth and utter cluelessness. Seth continually sets up Evan and Fogell for failure based on his awful and somewhat selfish intentions, starting everything off with sending Fogell in for beer with his infamous fake which gets his day rocked when a robber punches him in the face – just another shining moment of Seth’s brilliant influence.
Young, dumb, impressionable kids or not, after watching what Seth puts Evan through in Superbad, I’d never trust the dude with a single decision – even if he was my best friend.
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