Everybody Wants Some!!

Writer-director Richard Linklater follows up his masterful Boyhood with a gleeful throwback to his early hit Dazed and Confused, the cult classic about a bunch of kids celebrating their last day of high school in 1976. Here, a bunch of college guys—the baseball team on a fictional Texas campus—enjoy themselves just before the start of the 1980 fall semester. Although it's an ensemble piece showcasing a raft of engaging young actors, Everybody Wants Some!! ultimately focuses on Jake (Blake Jenner), a freshman pitcher who quickly develops a sense of camaraderie with his disparate teammates while also finding prospective romance with an artsy drama major (Zoey Deutsch). For much of the film, the guys just amble about from bar to bar and party to party, engaging in genial, mildly raunchy conversation while period pop music is featured on the soundtrack. There are occasional moments of “drama”—a brief barroom brawl, for instance—but overall the attitude is one of bemused (if also casually sexist) joviality. Linklater captures small, ostensibly insignificant moments of the past with an easygoing authenticity in this film that plays like a cinematic keg party—loose, informal, and ragged—but reminds older viewers of what it was like to be young and full of possibility. Recommended. [Note: Blu-ray extras include the behind-the-scenes segments “More Stuff That's Not in the Movie” (26 min.), “Baseball Players Can Dance” (7 min.), “Skills Video” (4 min.), “History 101: Stylin' the ‘80s” (5 min.), and “Rickipedia” (4 min.), as well as bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a fine extras package for a winning film.] (F. Swietek)