REVENGE OF THE NERDS 'SUPERBAD' TAKES A SMART - AND RAUNCHY - LOOK AT TEEN LIFE.

Byline: >BY GLENN WHIPP 

>FILM WRITER

'Superbad" careens through a night in the life of a couple of nerdy high-school seniors looking to score some booze, stay clear of the cops and make it with the hot girls of their dreams.

There's enough profanity to shock Martin Scorsese, a dirty dancing scene that's the stuff of Jennifer Grey's nightmares and a geek who gets a fake ID with the name McLovin and goes on to become the coolest character in the movie.

But for all the raging hormones, "Superbad" isn't "Porky's." Produced by Judd Apatow and written by "Freaks and Geeks" alum and "Knocked Up" star Seth Rogen along with his writing partner Evan Goldberg, the movie smartly deals with friendship and the separation anxiety that kids experience the summer before leaving for college.

"It's 'Freaks and Geeks' with the handcuffs taken off," Apatow says.

The movie's stars -- Michael Cera ("Arrested Development"), Jonah Hill ("Knocked Up") and newcomer Christopher Mintz-Plasse -- sat down to talk about the indignities of high school, their shared disdain for drama teachers and the growing cult of McLovin.

Seth says "Superbad" comes from his disdain for "teen comedies."

Hill: The whole backbone of comedy is about feeling (angry) about something.

Cera: What about "Pee Wee's Big Adventure"? What was he angry about?

Hill: His (bleeping) bike got stolen. I guarantee you, Paul Reubens' bike got stolen and he said, "(Forget) this noise. I'm gonna write about how angry I am with this."

Cera: It worked. That's one of my favorite movies. Now would that be a teen comedy? Is a teen comedy a movie that features teens or appeals to teens?

Hill: When they label something a "teen comedy," they're saying it to diminish the movie. Is "Rushmore" a teen comedy? Jason (Schwartzman) was a teenager when he made that. They don't call that a teen comedy.

Cera: I call it my favorite movie of all time. It's perfect. And most teens don't know about it.

Hill: If I hear that a movie is being called a "teen comedy," I'll go out of my way to avoid it. There can be interesting, honest, funny movies about young people that don't talk down to them.

Cera: "Clockwork Orange." That's a teen comedy.

Hill: I want to be more in line with "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" or "Dazed and Confused." They are the benchmarks.

Cera: Don't forget "Bratz."

Chris, if you're going to be known for something, McLovin isn't bad?

Mintz-Plasse: Not at all.

Cera: People love McLovin. Before the movie even comes out, Jimmy Kimmel introduces him, "McLovin himself." McLovin himself! That's such a cool intro.

Are you OK with being McLovin?

Cera: Are you OK with being McLovin himself?

Mintz-Plasse: Totally. It's pretty cool.

Better McLovin than Booger, right?

Mintz-Plasse: I did a short film with Curtis Armstrong. He got there and within the first 10 minutes, the prop guy said, "Hey, you're Booger from 'Revenge of the Nerds.' " And for the rest of the day, he was (angry) and wouldn't talk to anyone.

Cera: That doesn't happen to you. You're McLovin.

Hill: We've talked about how, when someone says the name Screech, they say it with disdain. Not McLovin.

Cera: Screech is not the epitome of cool. By the end of "Superbad," McLovin is. The movie hasn't even come out and people are wearing McLovin T-shirts.

Not bad for a guy who couldn't pass drama.

Mintz-Plasse: My drama teacher hated me. She wanted me out of there.

Cera: My drama teacher hated me, too. She gave me, like, a 40.

Hill: If my drama teacher's reading this, I've got a message -- I won. This was in college, and she made me go get coffee and eat lunch with her so she could tell me how I was ruining the class by not following her directions.

Cera: I hope she told you at the end of the meal, as opposed to the beginning. Because that would be uncomfortable.

Hill: She told me before we went.

Cera: Why did you go?!?

Hill: Because I was getting an F. And I thought if I sat there and apologized to her the whole time, maybe I could get a better grade.

Cera: But then you wouldn't have been in "Superbad."

Hill: No. I would have been in "Dude, Let's Get This Party Farted."

Sounds like the title of an '80s teen sex comedy.

Hill: I think part of what drew us all into comedy was seeing boobs. I had a brother six years older than me and he'd let me tag along to all those '80s comedies. Wonderfully enough, he'd take me to see movies with boobs that maybe Harold Ramis directed. So at least I was getting an education in what would later become my career.

There's no nudity in "Superbad," but the MPAA rating is longer than some books.

Hill: That's my favorite part -- all involving teens.

Cera: It's like, "Wait, that's not so bad -- Oh, ALL INVOLVING YOUR CHILDREN"

Hill: I want to change teens to tweens on every poster just to make people more offended by it.

Cera: ALL INVOLVING YOUR DAUGHTER SARAH 

But for that "pervasive crudeness," the movie really captures the lonely experience in high school.

Cera: Oh, yeah. A kid spit on me once. Spit on my hair while I was standing in line at the school dance. And the most heartbreaking thing is when you can't do anything about it. That even if you joined up with your friends, you can't do anything to stop these (jerks).

Hill: High school sucked. The worst thing for me is that it was so contained. If you do something embarrassing or if something embarrassing happens to you, everyone knows.

That's where that line comes from in the movie, when I tell a kid, "Why don't you go (wet) your pants again." And he's like, "That was eight years ago." And I say -- and this line came off the top of my head -- "People don't forget." It always gets a laugh, but it's so true.

Cera: At the 20-year reunion, it'll be like, "There's the guy who (wet) his pants."

Hill: I won't be going to any reunions. Why put myself through those feelings again?

Cera: What if you went back in time and saw little Jonah and all those feelings of animosity toward people bullying you? Wouldn't little Jonah say, "Please Uncle Big Jonah, come back and do something to show these guys."

Hill: I'd show little Jonah a picture of me doing a table read with John C. Reilly and Jack Black. And I'd say, "Whenever you're feeling (crummy), look at this."

Cera: Living well is the best revenge.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

[e-mail]

MEET THE boys

Michael CERA

Age: 19

You might know him from: Playing the level-headed son on the beloved Fox sitcom "Arrested Development," starring in a series of Internet videos, including one where Judd Apatow "fires" him on the set of "Knocked Up."

Why he's superbad: "This is a guy in his first starring role, a guy I'm going to be watching for the next 35 years," says "Superbad" producer Apatow. "I wish I could own stock in him. He's soulful and hilarious and has his own unique comic sensibility. In fact, casting him created a problem. How do you find a co-star? How do you find someone as good as Michael Cera?"

Jonah HILL

Age: 23

You might know him from: Played one of Seth Rogen's stoner buds in Apatow's "Knocked Up."

Why he's superbad: "I was shooting 'Knocked Up' and I looked over at Jonah and said, 'I guess you're gonna be the lead of "Superbad," ' " Apatow remembers. "I said it with a sigh. I thought he was too old.

"But he went inside a trailer, shaved, put himself on tape and he was great. We all laughed because Jonah had been so close for so long."

Christopher MINTZ-PLASSE

Age: 17

You might know him from: His burgeoning careering promoting "Superbad." (He killed on "Kimmel.")

Why he's superbad: "Everyone who auditioned played the character like your typical, petulant nerd," says "Superbad" director Greg Mottola.

"Chris came in and read like Daniel Craig. Jonah hated him because he was so abrasive. I knew then that we had to hire him. He made McLovin come alive."

-- G.W.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, box

Photo:

(1 -- cover -- color) Bad boys

Geeky anti-heroes rush to the rescue of teen movies

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

EVAN YEE>LA.COM

(3) Cera, left, Hill and Mintz-Plasse are hoping for a night they'll remember in "Superbad."

(4) Michael Cera

(5) Jonah Hill

(6) Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Box:

MEET THE boys (see text)