Everybody Wants Some!! (film) explained

Everybody Wants Some!!
Director:Richard Linklater
Cinematography:Shane F. Kelly
Editing:Sandra Adair
Distributor:Paramount Pictures
Runtime:116 minutes[1]
Country:United States
Language:English
Budget:$10 million[2]
Gross:$5.4 million[3]

Everybody Wants Some!! is a 2016 American comedy film written and directed by Richard Linklater, about college baseball players in 1980s Texas. The film stars Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, Ryan Guzman, Tyler Hoechlin, Glen Powell, Will Brittain, and Wyatt Russell. It had its world premiere at South by Southwest on March 11, 2016,[4] and was theatrically released in the United States on March 30, 2016, by Paramount Pictures. The film grossed $5.4 million against a $10 million budget, making it a box-office bomb, but was critically acclaimed.[5]

Plot

In Texas in the fall of 1980, college freshman Jake Bradford, an all-state pitcher in high school, moves into an off-campus house with other members of the college baseball team including his roommate Billy, nicknamed "Beuter" for his Deep Southern accent. He joins Finnegan, Roper, Dale, and Plummer cruising campus by car, looking for women. Upperclassmen Roper and Finnegan both "strike out" with two women, but one of them, Beverly, says she likes Jake; he makes a note of her room number.

At a team meeting in the house, the coach introduces the new players, including freshmen Jake, Plummer, Beuter, Brumley, and transfer students Jay and Willoughby. The coach cites two rules: no alcohol in the house, and no women upstairs. The team quickly disregards the rules and hosts a drunken party during which several players take women up to their bedrooms. The next morning, Beuter leaves temporarily for home, concerned his girlfriend is pregnant.

The team goes out drinking and "cruising chicks", beginning the night at a local disco. Jay makes arrogant remarks to a bartender, provoking a brawl, and the team is ejected. Jay goes home, and the rest of the team changes clothes and visits a western-themed bar. The next day Willoughby shares his marijuana, music, and philosophy with the freshmen. Jake happens upon Justin, a high school teammate who has embraced punk subculture. He invites the team to a punk concert, and with Jake's encouragement, they go. Jake leaves flowers and a note on Beverly's apartment door that night, then attends a massive party at the team's house.

Beverly calls him in the morning and they agree to meet. She says she is a performing arts major; Jake answers only that he is a baseball player, based on Finnegan's advice. At the team's first unofficial practice, Jay upsets his teammates by pitching aggressively. McReynolds, the team's captain and best player, puts Jay in his place by hitting a home run. The coach arrives unexpectedly and calls Willoughby off the pitcher's mound. It is later revealed that Willoughby is 30 and has been fraudulently transferring to new colleges to continue playing ball and enjoying the student lifestyle.

Beverly invites Jake to "Oz", a costume party thrown by performing arts students. Jake mentions the party to his teammates and tries to tell them they would not enjoy it, but they cajole him into taking them. Although they initially feel out of place, they enjoy themselves all the same. Finnegan is ridiculed by his friends for pretending to be into astrology, and Jake takes part in an improvised Alice in Wonderland–themed take on The Dating Game. Jake and Beverly spend the rest of the night together.

The next morning, the semester begins and Jake and Beverly walk to class together. Dale and Finnegan razz Jake for not returning home that night. He runs into Plummer in his classroom, and they settle in for their first lecture. Their history professor enters and writes "Frontiers are where you find them" on the chalkboard. As their first college class officially begins, Jake and Plummer fall asleep.

Cast

Production

Linklater wrote the first draft of the film in mid-2005, and tried to finance it in 2009, but could not get production off the ground until Annapurna Pictures became involved.[6]

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.[7] Linklater also considers the film a "spiritual sequel" to Boyhood because "it begins right where Boyhood ends with a guy showing up at college and meeting his new roommates and a girl."[8] The film is based on Linklater's real-life experiences while attending Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas.[9]

In September, Linklater offered Jenner, Hoechlin, Russell, and Guzman roles as members of the baseball team the film focuses on.[10] [11] Hoechlin chose his role over returning to the fifth season of MTV's series Teen Wolf. Later in September, Annapurna Pictures became involved as a financial producer of the film, while Paramount Pictures signed on to handle distribution rights.[12] More cast members were announced, including Deutch, Brittain, and Powell.[13] To create camaraderie among the cast, Linklater had the actors move out to his Austin-area ranch for rehearsals.[14] [15]

Principal photography began on October 13, 2014, in Austin.[16] [17] Filming took place in Weimar, Texas, from October 15 to December 2. Other shooting locations included San Marcos, Texas, Bastrop, Texas, Elgin, Texas and San Antonio.[18] A night shoot involving extras occurred on October 31, 2014, for a costume party scene in Taylor, Texas.[19]

Soundtrack

Everybody Wants Some!!: Music from the Motion Picture
Type:Soundtrack
Artist:various artists
Label:Warner Bros. Records

Release

On July 27, 2015, Paramount Pictures set the film for an April 15, 2016 release in the United States.[20] In February 2016, the film was moved up to April 1, in a limited release.[21] It was then moved to March 30.[22]

The film's debut screening took place at South By Southwest on March 11, 2016. It received another one-time screening at Sam Houston State University, where Linklater himself had gone to college, on March 28, 2016, also featuring a student body Q&A with Linklater, Blake Jenner, Zoey Deutch, and Ryan Guzman.[23] It received its first limited release across 19 locations in New York City, Austin, Houston, and Los Angeles on March 30. On April 22, 2016, Everyone Wants Some!! received its widest release at 454 theaters, peaking at #13 at the box office. By the end of its limited theatrical run, the movie had only brought in $4,644,472, far below its $10 million budget.[24]

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of critics gave the film positive reviews based on 247 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Nostalgic in the best sense, Everybody Wants Some!! finds Richard Linklater ambling through the past with a talented cast, a sweetly meandering story, and a killer classic rock soundtrack."[25] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 85 out of 100 based on 50 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[5]

Justin Chang of Variety wrote, "After the dramatic one-two punch of 'Before Midnight' and 'Boyhood,' a master of the modern hangout movie achieves his most sustained comic bliss-out in years."[26] Chang added, "Linklater indulges his characters' antics with such wild, free-flowing affection that you might miss the thoughtful undertow of this delightful movie: Few filmmakers have so fully embraced the bittersweet joy of living in the moment — one that's all the more glorious because it fades so soon." Several critics commented on how the film humanizes the archetype of the male jock, or bro-type.[27] [28] [29] [30] In RogerEbert.com, Sheila O'Malley said, "Linklater approaches [his subjects] with affection, and even kindness—one of his distinguishing characteristics. 'Everybody Wants Some!!' is a corrective to the tired, false 'dumb jock' stereotype."[31]

Emily St. James of Vox wrote how the film, along with Dazed and Confused, Boyhood, and the Before Sunrise trilogy, shows how "Linklater is our best living American filmmaker when it comes to the subject of time."[32] She wrote that Linklater demonstrates that "what's important in life aren't the big, dramatic moments or even the major changes. What's important in life is what happens between those moments, when people connect and life is honestly lived."

The cast received praise, with The New Yorkers Anthony Lane singling out Glen Powell for his "runaway charm".[33] Jacob Hall of SlashFilm said, "Everybody Wants Some is powered by testosterone and bromance, but the quiet heart of the movie is Beverly (Zoey Deutch, in a star-making performance) who strikes up a relationship with Jake."[34]

Writing for The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw said the film is "a deceptively subtle comedy, and also a challengingly and almost provokingly unironic film intensifying and cartoonifying what it is like to be young and male, but quite without the obviously readable drama and poignancy of his earlier film Boyhood, that now legendary real-time movie tracking a young man’s growing pains."[35]

A criticism came from Amy Nicholson, who wrote in MTV that Linklater was too far into his career to be featuring female characters in underwritten parts. She added, "Linklater can't resist posturing that there's deep emotional significance in these bros. There could have been, if he'd stepped back from his personal sentimentality and reshaped them to matter to everyone. And the best moments of Everybody Wants Some!! come when they step out of their — and Linklater's — comfort zone and explore beyond the athletic dorms: a country bar, a disco, a punk show."[36]

Dan Solomon of Texas Monthly found the film to be charming and fun, but opined "even the sweetest, most open-hearted of [the guys], as a college ballplayer in small-town Texas in 1980 would be much more problematic than Linklater presented them to be."[37] He contended "the way [Linklater] gets around having to confront the misogyny or homophobia that was a part of the world he decided to depict was basically to not have any gay people in it, or to not give any woman in the movie more than about five minutes of screen time". He concluded, "And since Linklater is the sort of director whose most recent work has been great because it’s so concerned with reality, it’s hard not to feel like this one is a big swing and a miss."

Accolades

It was nominated as Best Ensemble at the December 19, 2016 Detroit Film Critics Society.[38] It was also nominated for both Best Feature and the Audience Award at the November 28, 2016 Gotham Independent Film Awards.[39]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Everybody Wants Some (15) . . March 2, 2016 . March 2, 2016.
  2. Web site: Richard Linklater on the Long Road to Make 'Everybody Wants Some!!'. Variety. Ramin. Setoodeh. March 16, 2016. March 17, 2016.
  3. Web site: Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) . . September 29, 2020.
  4. Web site: Everybody Wants Some. SXSW. March 17, 2016.
  5. Web site: Everybody Wants Some!! Reviews . Metacritic . May 18, 2016.
  6. Web site: Richard Linklater on the Long Road to Make 'Everybody Wants Some!!'. Variety. Ramin. Setoodeh. March 16, 2016. March 17, 2016.
  7. News: Kit. Borys. Ford. Rebecca. Richard Linklater Exiting 'The Incredible Mr. Limpet' Remake. September 30, 2014. The Hollywood Reporter. August 4, 2014.
  8. News: McKittrick. Christopher. "I want to tell a story in a new way" – Linklater on Boyhood. December 29, 2014. Creatives Screenwriting. December 29, 2014.
  9. Web site: April 10, 2016 . Richard Linklater bases experiences as SHSU baseball player in new film . The Huntsville Item.
  10. News: Fleming. Mike Jr.. Richard Linklater Setting Lineup Card For Baseball Movie. September 30, 2014. Deadline Hollywood. September 12, 2014.
  11. News: Yamato. Jen. 'Step Up's Ryan Guzman Joins Richard Linklater Baseball Pic. September 30, 2014. Deadline Hollywood. September 16, 2014.
  12. News: Kit. Borys. Paramount to Distribute Richard Linklater's 'Boyhood' Follow-Up. September 30, 2014. The Hollywood Reporter . September 29, 2014.
  13. News: McNary. Dave. Paramount, Megan Ellison Back Richard Linklater's Baseball Movie. September 30, 2014. variety.com. September 29, 2014.
  14. Web site: P. Sullivan . Kevin . April 8, 2016 . What it's like hanging out with the cast of 'Everybody Wants Some!!' . 2023-02-16 . EW.com . en.
  15. Web site: Skipper . Clay . 2016-04-12 . An Oral History of Everybody Wants Some, From Six of its Baseball Bros . 2023-02-16 . . en-US.
  16. Loving 1980, where a solid mustache belongs on the dance floor not the sex offender registry. 521855109630660608 . Powell. Glen. glenpowell. October 13, 2014. October 16, 2014.
  17. News: October 15, 2014 . Richard Linklater's 'That's What I'm Talking About' begins filming in Austin; Extras needed . onlocationvacations.com . dead . October 16, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211023114137/https://onlocationvacations.com/2014/10/15/richard-linklaters-thats-what-im-talking-about-begins-filming-in-austin-extras-needed/ . October 23, 2021.
  18. News: Raney. Nicole. Wanna be in a Linklater film? Austin-area extras needed for possible Dazed and Confused sequel. September 30, 2014. culturemap.com. September 30, 2014.
  19. News: October 28, 2014 . Dazed and Confused Sequel, 'That's What I'm Talking About' Casting Call . projectcasting.com . November 1, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141028221057/http://www.projectcasting.com/casting-calls-and-auditions/dazed-and-confused-sequel-thats-what-im-talking-about-casting-call/ . October 28, 2014.
  20. News: McNary. Dave. Richard Linklater Baseball Comedy to Release April 15. July 28, 2015. Variety. July 27, 2015.
  21. Richard Linklater's 'Everybody Wants Some' Gets April 1 Release. Variety. Dave. McNary. February 17, 2016. March 17, 2016.
  22. Web site: A. Lincoln . Ross . March 18, 2016 . Paramount Shifts Release Dates For 'Everybody Wants Some' & 'Same Kind Of Different As Me' . March 20, 2016 . Deadline Hollywood.
  23. Web site: March 29, 2016 . Everyone Wants Some!! premieres at SHSU . Sam Houston State University.
  24. Web site: Everybody Wants Some!! . Box Office Mojo.
  25. Web site: Everybody Wants Some!! (2016) . Rotten Tomatoes . March 8, 2024.
  26. Web site: Chang . Justin . 2016-03-12 . Film Review: 'Everybody Wants Some!!' . 2024-03-08 . Variety . en-US.
  27. News: Ide . Wendy . 2016-05-15 . Everybody Wants Some!! review – jocks away . 2024-03-08 . The Observer . en-GB . 0029-7712.
  28. Web site: Willmore . Alison . 2016-03-20 . The Movie That's Ready To Make "Bro" Less Of A Bad Word . 2024-03-08 . BuzzFeed . en.
  29. News: Kois . Dan . March 31, 2016 . Everybody Wants Some!! . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20190428042334/https://slate.com/culture/2016/03/richard-linklaters-everybody-wants-some-reviewed.html . 2019-04-28 . March 8, 2024 . Slate.
  30. News: Scott . A.O. . March 30, 2016 . Review: In 'Everybody Wants Some!!,' Casual Sex and Casual Philosophizing . 8 March 2024 . The New York Times.
  31. Web site: O'Malley . Sheila . March 31, 2016 . Everybody Wants Some!! . March 8, 2024 . RogerEbert.com.
  32. News: St. James . Emily . April 7, 2016 . Richard Linklater digs into the passage of time like no other American director . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160409032959/https://www.vox.com/2016/4/7/11350426/everybody-wants-some-richard-linklater-boyhood . 2016-04-09 . Vox.
  33. Lane . Anthony . March 30, 2016 . Fun and Games . March 8, 2024 . The New Yorker.
  34. Web site: Hall . Jacob . 2016-03-14 . 'Everybody Wants Some' Blends Low Comedy And Highbrow Filmmaking Into One Glorious Mixer [SXSW Review] ]. 2024-03-08 . SlashFilm . en-US.
  35. News: Bradshaw . Peter . 2016-05-12 . Everybody Wants Some!! review – Richard Linklater's sports jock comedy is a winner . 2024-03-08 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
  36. Web site: Nicholson . Amy . April 1, 2016 . Endless Boyhood: Richard Linklater's 'Everybody Wants Some!!' Could Stand To Grow Up A Little . https://web.archive.org/web/20230605151046/https://www.mtv.com/news/x5hkma/endless-boyhood-richard-linklaters-everybody-wants-some-could-stand-to-grow-up-a-little . dead . June 5, 2023 . 2024-03-08 . MTV . en.
  37. Web site: Solomon . Dan . 2016-04-07 . A Big Linklater Fan's Big Disappointment With 'Everybody Wants Some!!' . 2024-03-08 . Texas Monthly . en.
  38. News: Local critics: 'Moonlight', 'Manchester' best of 2016 . Adam . Graham . . December 14, 2016. December 15, 2016.
  39. Web site: Gotham Awards Nominations 2016: 'Manchester By The Sea' Leads with Four. Cox. Gordon. Variety. October 20, 2016. October 20, 2016.