Lately, everything Richard Linklater touches is gold. His Austin film festivals have helped make South By Southwest (SXSW) one of the best festivals around. His last two films were nominated for multiple Oscars, including one that will go down as one of the great films of the century. And now, he hits another home run. Taking the vibe of Dazed and Confused (which Linklater also created) to college, Everybody Wants Some!! is a rollicking fun time that should remind those who went to college just how great those first few days are. It also makes a baseball practice appointment viewing, amazing.
The movie drops us in on Jake (Blake Jenner), driving to his first weekend in college in Austin, Texas. Jake is a baseball player, a pitcher, and he gets to live in a giant frat house with his teammates. He latches closely to Finn (Glen Powell), a smooth talking enigma to women, and Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), a Cal transfer with a drug disposition. The collection of teammates navigate the various subcultures around their university, and get frisky with some hunnies, make up ultra competitive games, attend bizarre parties, get some practice in, and in Jake’s case, maybe make a strong female connection with Beverly (Zoey Deutch).
What made Dazed and Confused so fun was how well it captured its age and time: high school in the 70s. Everybody Wants Some!! does the same for a decade later. The music, always a Linklater touchstone, breezily sets the chill mood these guys live life with. There’s no hammed up rush for Jake to meet Beverly, or forced conflict between players on the team other than occasional jabs. Using the baseball team as a prism, Linklater nails the day to day rhythms a group of competitive guys would fall into. Games are made up, and immediately amplified to show off alpha status. These dick measuring contests of course lead to ribbing, pranks and general inflated monologuing. The dialogue is so natural that I personally had experienced versions of many of these conversations, another Linklater trait. Most importantly for the audience, it’s gut bustingly hilarious. Chanting for a kid to hook up with a girl, terrible bets to prove you’re not a pussy, and getting called out for faking an astrology interest are random, generic situations that Linklater writes to feel relatable, making the laughs come even harder.
What elevates Everybody Wants Some!! above normal college movies is the poignant underbelly the movie sits on (Dazed and Confused had this trait too). The timeline for the movie is just the beginning of the college experience, sans class. Those first few days of school are SO exciting, since you can create whatever version of yourself you want to be. Unlike most writers, Linklater doesn’t weird up the different subcultures – punk, feminist, hicks – for us to laugh at. On the contrary, we are supposed to TRY them out, see what works for us and what doesn’t, especially in those early days. These players are more thrilled with the exposure of something new and trying it together. Those shared experiences create a camaraderie that resonates deeply on the baseball field during practice, or with someone you connect with after an initial meeting. Linklater, always relaxed, lets you enjoy the movie on the surface, but as the characters and story develops, he slips in some genuine insight that sticks with you as you quote the movie leaving the theatre.
Dazed and Confused introduced to Matthew McConaughey, Ben Affleck, and Parker Posey among many in what will go down as one of the great all time casts. Time will tell with Everybody Wants Some!!, but the start is promising. On the funny side, Glen Powell is hysterical as the fast talking Finnegan. In my opinion he is destined for the best career; Juston Street and Austin Amelio have careers ahead of them playing weirdoes like the star pitcher and resident crappy gambler; Temple Baker will play your bro best friend tag along; Wyatt Russell can play a preachy stoner in his sleep; and Tanner Kalina can play naïve to a fault for humor. For wall to wall solid acting, Tyler Hoechlin can be funny like the rest, but he can deliver as a leader as well, since he plays the elder star of the team. And then there’s the boy and the girl. Blake Jenner is great as the everyman, a very tall, quiet, hunky everyman. And Zoey Deutch is that girl every college guy wants to know; smart, quick witted, and interesting to talk to. Their connection is super adorable, particularly during a phone call and swimming. Jenner might be seen as too blank a slate, but Deutch earned herself some auditions standing out as the one interesting girl among a sea of men.
But don’t worry y’all. Everybody Wants Some!! has something for everybody. It will remind you about those times you forgot that made your college experience special, and perhaps of that joy of going out and trying new things. Richard Linklater doesn’t care about the awards, he just wants everyone to relax and live it up, which is what I do every time one of his films is released.