CUFF 2016: Everybody Wants Some!! Movie Review

Article by Gabe Zia

Lazy Film Critic Movie Reviews

CUFF 2016: Everybody Wants Some!!

Everybody Wants Some is the latest film from director Richard Linklater, and it's a spiritual sequel to Linklaters film Dazed and Confused. Where D&C followed a group of jocks and stoners during high school in the late 70s on their last day before college, EWS follows a freshman in a group of jocks and stoners, during the three days leading up to his first day of college, and it's set in the early 80s. 

Now if there's one thing Linklater is known for capturing really well with both his writing and directing is that he's good at capturing a very real sense of people connecting to one another, we've seen this in Boyhood, and we've seen this in Dazed and Confused. However, I honestly feel like Everybody Wants Some shows his best talents with it, because this movie is really a combination of what both of those movies did really well, this film mainly follows one protagonist instead of a group of people (like Boyhood), but it also shows his relationship with one group instead of several (like Dazed and Confused). And overall, it works into what I can honestly say is Linklaters best stuff yet.

These characters very much feel very similar to Dazed and Confused in the way their characters are written and the way they are acted, this film gives you a genuine sense of a group mentality. Right away, like we're talking immediately as this movie starts, you get a very real sense of a camaraderie between these guys. It's one of Linklaters greatest talents as a writer, I honestly have no idea how he does it, but he does it brilliantly.

Another talent of Linklater that I feel he shares with very few directors is how real his films feel, much like his normal films, this movie doesn't real have a plot. It's just three days of these guys hanging out, but it feels incredibly real to watch it, and you can just get easily engrossed into this movie. It's the exact same thing that made Dazed and Confused so great, and along with that it also has D&C's amazing sense of humor, leading to this also being one of the funniest films I've seen in a while.

Final Rating
I adored Everybody Wants Some, and I was especially surprised by it as well. The trailers made it out to be this very summer party bro type of movie, but it wasn't that at all, this is a very real and very engrossing film, it's filled to the brim with memorable lines and moments, and it's one of the best movies of the year. I wanted to see EWS again the moment after it ended, which is why I'm so glad that it actually comes out tomorrow because I can totally see it again tomorrow. I'm gonna go for my highest rating on this one, the third time now this year.