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Kinda reminds me of Basic Instinct.

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“Superbad” is a comedy about two high school seniors attempting to score alcohol so they can then score with chicks. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that this scenario is one familiar to many viewers, which endows “Superbad” with one of its main strengths: anyone old enough to see it is old enough to recognize traces of it in their own lives. Considering that, it’s a given that “Superbad,” hilarious written and touchingly acted, should resonate soundly with its target audience, non-prudes 17 and up.

Written by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, “Superbad” follows two high school seniors, not-so coincidentally named Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera). The former is pudgy, foul-mouthed, unpopular, and obsessed with sex, while the latter is thin, foul-mouthed, unpopular, and a little less obsessed with sex. They’ll be going to different colleges in the fall, a daunting prospect to the social misfits who have been best friends since childhood.

When a popular girl asks Seth to procure alcohol for her big party, he jumps at the chance, certain that he and Evan will get their chance to leave their virginity behind in high school. They enlist Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), a scrawny geek even more unpopular than they are, to secure the booze with a fake ID, which lists his name as McLovin, sorta like Prince.

Although always profane and sex fueled, the banter between Seth and Evan never feels forced or inauthentic. Though their personalities are far too entertaining for them to really be the social outcasts the film presents them as, the natural chummy rapport between the two makes it easy to become familiar with them very early on.

Less amusing is Fogell’s subplot, which sees him riding along with two cops for the night (Rogen and Bill Hader). It claims a surprisingly large amount of the nearly two hour runtime, and would have bolstered the film considerably had it been cut. In it, the cops gradually go from being humorously incompetent to outright evil in what amounts to a creepy rip-off of “Super Troopers.” It’s a mean-spirited blotch in what turns out to be an otherwise surprisingly sweet natured story.

Well, sweet in a profane way. Observe how the knowledge that the pair will be separated fills them each with fear they struggle to suppress, or how their intimate familiarity with one another has resulted in harsh thoughts long left unsaid. Or how the boys make it to the party and their naivete about the way sex and romance unfolds yields surprising and real results.

That’s what makes “Superbad” special in the world of teen comedies, idiotic police characters aside. There’s a genuine fondness not just for the characters, but for that particular period in everyone’s lives, before the truth about how miserable life is actually sinks in. Although Seth and Even don’t realize it, this is probably some of the most fun they’ll ever have. They’ll never have the same freedom from adult life that they do then, and even though a lot of it sucks, there is much to be fond of. And when it’s over, it’s all gone.

3.5 out of 5