“Oh man, lack of motivation for starting this post. I’ve procrastinated for about an hour, two Flash episodes, a few Jet Blue surveys and some Chinese food. I even cleaned the tub.
I kinda had a similar procrastinate-y feel towards this movie. I saw the trailer and thought “”eh””. I do respect Richard Linklater’s work (Boyhood, School of Rock, Bernie), but didn’t really feel drawn to this. I thought it was perfect that the release coincided with my last NYC trip, so I wouldn’t be able to see it right away anyways. But, as is often the cast, the overwhelmingly positive buzz (91% fresh on RT!), coupled with a respected director, I gave in. Now having seen it, I’m still ambivalent.
Touted as a spiritual sequel to both Dazed and Confused and Boyhood, Everybody Wants Some follows a group of college baseball players in 1980, through the eyes of the new freshman pitcher. Our froshling, Jake, has arrived at their housing a few days before registration, and jumps right in to the non-academic aspects of college life.
This is more an ensemble-as-a-character piece than a straight up story with a plot. We all know that never tends to go too well for me. I like plot. So therefore, by the nature of the beast, there were scenes I liked and others that for me felt like they went nowhere. And there were times when I really liked these guys, and wanted to hang out with them, and others where I was so turned off by their behavior, I was glad to be done with college boys.
What Linklater does really well is create compelling, complex characters, you care about. And he gives you a very real look at life that’s just above the mundane. Huh, yeah I guess it does follow Boyhood more than Dazed, at least in tone and subject. Structurally it’s more Dazed, especially with the setting, but either way, it’s got Linklater’s craft all over it.
Everybody Wants Some – \m/ \m/ \m/”