NZIFF Film Review: "Everybody Wants Some!!" (2016).

"From Writer/Director Richard Linklater Comes The Spiritual Sequel To Dazed and Confused" with Everybody Wants Some!! This comedy film, written and directed by Richard Linklater. In Texas in the fall of 1980, college freshman Jake Bradford, a hotshot pitcher in high school, moves into an off-campus house with other members of the college baseball team. He meets several teammates, including his roommate Billy, who has been nicknamed "Beuter" because of his Deep Southern accent. He joins Finnegan, Roper, Dale, and Plummer cruising the campus by car, looking for women...

The film was inspired by Linklater's school years as he himself did in fact play baseball. He always remembered how everyone in his team were competitors and would compete at just about anything to prove who was better. A lot of this film is autobiographical like many of his films and just like in this film, he remembered what was great about those days wasn't just about the baseball games but mainly the things he and his team mates got up to. In mid 2005, Linklater wrote the first draft of the script. In 2009, Linklater tried to gather financing, but could not get production off the ground until Annapurna Pictures became involved. In August 2014, Linklater ceased involvement on the Warner Bros. film The Incredible Mr. Limpet, saying that he wanted to concentrate on a university-set, 1980s baseball film under the working title That's What I'm Talking About. The project is considered a spiritual sequel to Linklater's 1993 film Dazed and Confused, which was set on the last day of high school in 1976. Linklater also considers the film a "spiritual sequel" to Boyhood. By mid October 2014, Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Glen Powell, Will Brittain, and Wyatt Russell were cast. At the same time, principal photography commenced, and wrapped in early December. Filming took place throughout Texas.

The film stars Jenner, Deutch, Guzman, Hoechlin, Powell, Brittain, and Russell. Very little actually happens but - like life - it's not always the events that define a time but the characters in it. And the film is bursting with wonderfully drawn and completely credible characters. Manages to not only unfold in to a fun narrative, but also builds a myriad fascinating characters you'll either love or hate.

Linklater's cinematic flashback Everybody Wants Some!! captures a rich pageant of high-school life, circa 1976, in a mere a hundred and sixteen minutes, leaning on nostalgia without wallowing in it.
 It is a nostalgia film and a coming-of-age film. In some ways, it is every Bildungsroman and in some ways, it is like no other. The film transcends the common barriers and becomes a living spiritual entity, encompassing the essence and tone of an era. It may have seemed like a movie that was out of time, but it turned out to be perfectly in sync with the restlessness of the early 90s as well. Plenty of having 'fun' with very little consequence.

Simon says Everybody Wants Some!! receives:

Also, see my reviews for Boyhood and Lost and Beautiful (Bella e perduta).