Never one to be predictable, Richard Linklater has followed up a film which takes place over the course of twelve years (Boyhood), with one that takes place over the course of one weekend. Everybody Wants Some!! (yes, that’s a title containing two exclamation marks), is a good-natured meander through the boozy weekend before college starts for the new semester and is just as endearingly enthusiastic as its young characters.
It is the autumn of 1980 and freshman Jake (Blake Jenner) has just arrived at college. Having been picked as a pitcher for the college baseball team, Jake moves into their designated houses and spends the weekend getting to know the ragtag bunch of guys who will be his teammates. Over the course of that weekend, the players bond, drink and chase girls around town.
Surprisingly, they do all this in a way that is thoroughly inoffensive. The guys in Linklater’s film may have the same kind of one track mind as those in any other frat-house comedy but in his hands, these are characters that you genuinely wouldn’t mind hanging around with. Though they may be jocks, they are, in college terms, citizens of the world; socialising with anyone who is up for a good time – theatre nerds, country music fans and even the local punks. Their conversations unravel in an extremely naturalistic and entertaining manner as they ponder life, love and baseball and the performances are universally charming. Jenner is the sweetly laidback linchpin, around which whirl the more madcap characters, including a standout performance from Glen Powell, channeling Dazed and Confused era Matthew McConaughey.
Although ultimately this is a sweetly nostalgic piece of candy floss from Linklater, Everybody Wants Some!! is a memorably good time and funnier than any other American comedy I’ve seen for a long time.