I AM McLOVIN
BOOKS
THE SOUP-TO-NUTSACK STORY OF SUPERBAD
AUTHOR ANDREW BUSS
★★★★
Party on, dudes: Evan, McLovin and Seth come of age.
AT THE HEIGHT of Superbad’s success, Christopher MintzPlasse, who played everyone’s favourite dweeb McLovin, was chased out of a Chipotle by people shouting his character’s line, “I got a boner.” Eighteen years on, it’s perhaps easy to forget the impact of Greg Mottola’s teen comedy, and Andrew Buss’ pacy, enjoyable book acts as an entertaining reminder. Elaborating on Buss’ 2022 Vanity Fair oral history, IAm McLovin argues that Superbad is the defining comedy for its generation, winning millennial hearts via its mixture of no-holds-barred raunch and touching vulnerability. While it lacks fresh access and possibly overstates its subject’s importance, Buss’ book remains a vibrant celebration of noughties cinematic growing pains.