Year: 2016
Director: Richard Linklater
I’ve loved director Richard Linklater since I saw his debut film Slackers in the early 90s (part of me still wants to move to Austin, live in a squat and start a band because of that film). He’s eclectic, unpretentious and I don’t think there’s another director alive whose philosophy on life most matches my own.
Everybody Wants Some!! is a Buddhist manifesto disguised as a frat house comedy. There’s no one I can think of apart from Linklater who could weld such unlikely concepts together so seamlessly.
There’s a deep rooted connection to its predecessor, Dazed and Confused, from 1993. That film (itself inspired by American Graffiti) explored the bittersweet freedom and sense of possibility on the last day of high school, 1976. Everybody Wants Some!! jumps forward to the next natural life step – the first day of college. And it’s now 1980.
Our ensemble cast focuses on a house shared by a group of horny jocks on baseball scholarships. It’s three days until term starts, which they spend chasing girls and getting seriously out of their faces.
That might not sound appealing. And to be honest the sexism and laddish humour is off-putting for at least, ooh, the first forty minutes or so.
But Linklater works his usual alchemy, and slowly but surely a theme emerges. It’s all related to the Sisyphus myth (explicitly so, in a speech by the central character, a Linklater clone, near the end) – how life punishes you by restricting your choices (in the case of Sisyphus, pushing a rock up a hill for all time), and what you do to give your life meaning inside those narrow confines, turning a punishment into a blessing.
As well as relating the focus of baseball into this mythical framework, the film has plenty to say about the nature of competitiveness and teamwork. There’s also a slightly sad undercurrent, as you know that these guys are big fishes in the little world of college baseball, yet only a small percentage of them will make it in the professional sporting world.
Might appeal to people who enjoyed:
If you loved Dazed and Confused, you’ll love this. It has just as many positive vibes, but also the wisdom and maturity of an older filmmaker.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
One of my Films of 2016…for the first fifteen minutes or so I thought “it’s Police Academy 28” then the magic takes over.
Hawkfall says
Great review, I think I liked it rather than loved it, but your point about the Sisyphus myth is a great one and provides another way of looking at the film.
I think one of the interesting points is that Linklater seems to be suggesting that it was one of the last periods where campuses could be this bohemian. I also think he’s contrasting that period with the campuses of today, with their trigger warnings and safe spaces.
I have the soundtrack CD which is very good. In the sleeve notes, Linklater points out that it was a period where both old and new genres were peaking, and I think he’s right. I think 79/80 may be my favourite period. What’s interesting about the CD is that it explores it from the US perspective, so there’s no Madness or Specials, but there is Van Halen and The Cars.
One point that didn’t convince me was the scene with them driving around campus with the Sugarhill Gang on the car radio. I’m not convinced a bunch of sports jocks in a Texas University would have been hip hop fans in 1980!
Kaisfatdad says
Excellent review. I will add that to my Must See list.
I missed it when you first posted. But when just now, enthused by an enthusiasm for Ethiopian jazz, I searched the AW for Addis, the search engine brought me here.
That would never happen on the Guardian site. You can’t always get what you want but …..
Arthur Cowslip says
Aw, how nice. I’m not sure how searching for Ethiopian Jazz would bring you here, but all’s well that ends well! It’s a wonderful film.
Kaisfatdad says
How did I get here?
I searched for Addis ( as in Ababa). Your text contains the word L(addis)h so the search engine thought it was what I was looking for. And in a way it was.