'SUPERBAD' IS ACTUALLY PRETTY GOOD.

Byline: BOB STRAUSS

>LA.COM 

Sort of an updated Marx Brothers farce with foulmouthed teenagers, "Superbad" introduces a super-witty comic trio that, hopefully, will grace more movies with their perfectly balanced chemistry.

In this latest release from producer Judd Apatow's losers-hook-up-with-hotties lab, hefty motormouth Seth (Jonah Hill), sly but unassertive stringbean Evan (Michael Cera) and nerdy-to-the-point-of-mutancy Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) combine three totally different senses of humor into a compelling -- and mostly believable -- compound. It's about horniness and neurotic anxiety on its surface, but deep down this is a true relationship comedy of a pretty complex order.

It's one of their last high-school weekends, and Seth and Evan can get into a pretty girl's party if they bring some beer. This, unfortunately, would require also bringing along Fogell, whom even Internet porn-hound Seth and respectfully-scared-of-women Evan think is way too uncool. But he's got the fake I.D. -- on which he calls himself, singularly and ridiculously, McLovin -- so goofy Fogell's a necessity.

Of course, a series of mishaps plagues the quest for booze. Fogell ends up in a patrol car with two cops out for their own idea of Friday night fun (they're played by "Knocked Up's" Seth Rogen, who co-wrote "Superbad's" script a decade ago, and Bill Hader). Seth and Evan get sidetracked to a much scarier party than the one they were heading for. And anything else that can go wrong.

The laugh potential of barf, bullets, menstrual blood and the Guess Who's ballad "These Eyes" is all duly, extensively explored. But gross as many of its gags are, "Superbad" is a really quite a sophisticated comedy.

Evan and Seth are the most persuasively articulate teenagers to hit the screen in years, even when their dialogue is as overwritten as that of the debaters in the equally smart but less natural "Rocket Science." There's also some real brilliance in the way that Rogen, co-writer Evan Goldberg and director Greg Mottola ("The Daytrippers") enrich old or contrived circumstances with caseloads of fresh, funny observational details.

And while it's true that, as some have criticized, the two cops come from a broader comic universe than the rest of "Superbad's" characters exist in, they give the proceedings reliably bizarre jolts that are consistently hilarious. Plus, they enable the vital, coming-of-age movie task of turning McLovin into as much of a man as he's probably ever going to be.

The real maturation story here is Seth's and Evan's. As in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up," they grow to understand females better (though it's perhaps a little too lucky that, as with all Apatow Gang movies, the patient girls here are the best-looking). But coming to terms with inevitable changes to a deeply dependent friendship is at least as key an issue for the two boys, and it's presented here with great emotional intelligence and even grace.

Groucho and Harpo might arguably have been funnier. But they never did anything like that.

Bob Strauss [phone]

[e-mail]

SUPERBAD - Three stars

>R: sex, language, violence, nudity, underage substance abuse.

>Starring: Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen, Bill Hader.

>Director: Greg Mottola

>Running time: 1 hr. 54 min.

>Playing: Area wide

>In a nutshell: Though a tad overwritten and overlong, this is the funniest teen sex/geek buddy comedy in ages.

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Michael Cera, left, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Jonah Hill are geeks out to have the night of their lives in the comedy "Superbad."