Review – Everybody Wants Some!!

Director Richard Linkater called his latest film a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused (1993).  Seeing as Dazed and Confused is one of my favorite movies all-time, the bar was set extremely high for Everybody Wants Some!!.  It gives me great pleasure to say that Everybody Wants Some! hits that bar.  This is a funny, sweet, heartfelt nostalgia piece and another great Linklater moment.

Everybody Wants Some!! follows a college baseball team in Texas the weekend before classes start.  We watch as the team grows together to form a brotherhood in a short matter of time through parties, competition, and baseball.

Much like Dazed and Confused, this is a big cast of virtual unknowns and they are all great.  Of this big cast, two guys stood out to me more than the others and that was Glen Powell as the happy-go-lucky Wooderson look-alike Finnegan and Temple Baker as the stoned out, mildly stupid freshman catcher Plummer.  We really feel like the guys on the team are brothers, as the chemistry between them is impeccable.  We see the upperclassmen take the freshman under their wing and show them the ropes of college partying.  They take them out, show them how to dance, talk to girls, and have a good time, everything a big brother would show his little brother.  We also see the competitive side of the guys, as they compete in everything from ping-pong to knuckle flicking.  Even when someone loses and ends up getting so angry they throw a paddle at the other guy, at the end of the day, this is a team and a family and that will always come first.

The movie is mostly seen through the eyes of freshman pitcher Jake (Blake Jenner) and Linklater’s choice to focus on the bright-eyed freshman makes for a very pleasing experience.  His expert direction makes it feel like we too are a freshman on this team and experiencing everything for the first time.  We don’t know what’s coming and neither does Jake.  When Jake is having a good time, we are having a good time.  When Jake is nervous, we are nervous.  We go to all different parties from all different social circles and we drink in every experience.  This is one of the funnest times you’ll have at the movies all year and will want to go back and relive it right after it’s over.

Everybody Wants Some!! is a great film.  Linklater paints an authentic portrait of college life in 1980.  This is a perfect pairing with Dazed and Confused as both films perfectly capture moments in life.  The acting is great, the script is fresh and funny, and the music is classic.  Everybody Wants Some!! is a great time and one of the best movies of 2016.

MY RATING – 4/4

Did you see Everybody Wants Some!!?  What did you think?  What’s your favorite Richard Linklater movie?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at Kevflix.