Movies like Superbad took the classic form of a raunchy sex comedy but added something extra to the mix. While there were plenty of sex comedies from the past, many with young characters discovering it for the first time, the old way of making these movies was just to add more raunchy situations for laughs. However, with Superbad, the sex comedy was just a setup for something much more important and deep. This was a coming-of-age story about friendship, saying goodbye to youth, and finding one’s place in the world. It was a sex comedy with heart.
In Superbad, Jonah Hill and Michael Cera play Seth and Evan, two high school seniors who realize that their lives will change when they go to college and their friendship will never be the same. However, as one last hurrah before leaving high school behind, they decide to attend a party together where Seth hopes to finally hook up with the girl he has always liked in school. However, everything bad that could happen does and the night ends up changing both of their lives. When it comes to movies like Superbad, there are plenty of options, from similar sex comedies to more adult-oriented movies with many of the cast members, to movies that just show what happens when it is time to leave high school behind.
Pineapple Express (2008)
- Stream now on Netflix
Seth Rogen has his hands in comedies of all sorts, but most of them include the same type of characters you found in movies like Superbad. In his 2008 comedy Pineapple Express, the friends were grown up, but they were still out-of-place misfits who weren’t sure what they were doing in their lives. This was an action-comedy about a drug dealer and one of his clients (Rogen and James Franco) who go on the run from a corrupt police officer and several hitmen after witnessing a murder. On top of Rogen, the movie also maintains the crude humor from Superbad.
Easy A (2010)
Easy A proves that you don’t have to be a guy to take the lead in a raunchy sex comedy. What makes Easy A even more interesting is that the lead character accused by classmates of being promiscuous was actually not guilty of anything she was accused of. However, Emma Stone’s Olive was so angry at the accusations that she played the role in public to show her classmates something they never expected to see. The movie was based on The Scarlet Letter, but it pays homage to movies that also influenced movies like Superbad such as Sixteen Candles and Say Anything.
Booksmart (2019)
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The best part of Superbad isn’t all the raunchy and low-brow jokes; it is the sweetness and heart that the movie possesses. For anyone looking for movies like Superbad with a ton of heart, Booksmart, directed by Olivia Wilde, fits that description perfectly. The movie is almost just like Superbad in its setup, a re-telling of the classic coming-of-age story, but with two high school girls instead of two high school guys. The film won Best First Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards and remains one of the best young adult movies of the last decade.
Knocked Up (2007)
- Stream now on HBO Max
Before Seth Rogen was producing his own movies, he was part of Judd Apatow’s world of movies and TV shows. He took the lead in the 2007 comedy Knocked Up, along with ER actress Katherine Heigl. In the film, Rogen plays a slacker who hooks up with someone for a one-night stand, knowing that she was out of his league. However, when she ends up pregnant, the two have to come to terms with what this might mean and whether they can co-exist or not. It is easy to see Jonah Hill’s Seth from Superbad grow up and end up in a similar situation.
Old School (2003)
- Stream now on Paramount+
Before he created one of the highest-grossing R-rated comedies of all time with The Hangover, Todd Phillips directed the buddy comedy movie Old School. This film starred Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Vince Vaughn as three former college buddies suffering from a midlife crisis. They decide to start their own fraternity when Wilson’s Mitch moves into a house that was determined as part of the university, and soon it becomes the go-to party house on campus. The movie shares a lot in common with movies like Superbad, especially around the wild party scenes and the unexpected consequences that resulted.
Good Boys (2019)
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Take the kids from Superbad, make them about five years younger, and then put them in situations that not even the actors were allowed to see in theaters without parental supervision, and that is what Good Boys is all about. Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, the same men who wrote Superbad, produced the movie. Good Boys is about three sixth-grade boys who set out to attend a party with their popular classmates. The boys start to struggle, grow apart, and eventually reconnect. It is as close to Superbad as a movie can get but with middle school kids discovering adult situations.
Blockers (2018)
- Stream now on Fubo
The entire premise of Superbad is seeing three high school seniors trying to lose their virginity before graduation. Blockers is a movie with a similar storyline but with girls trying to lose their virginity before graduating. What makes it different is that it is from the perspective of the parents trying to stop it. Released in 2018, this is another movie produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and is just a slight twist on the premise. John Cena turns in one of his best post-WWE performances in a movie, joined by Leslie Mann and Ike Barinholtz.
This Is The End (2013)
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For anyone who loves the actors in Superbad, a can’t-miss comedy for fans is the 2013 film, This is the End. The great thing about this movie is that the actors all play heightened fictionalized versions of themselves, all attending a party when the world starts to come to an end. Highlights include an obnoxious and arrogant Michael Cera meeting his grizzly demise, an angry and vindictive Danny McBride, and a gloriously over-the-top James Franco. The cameos alone make this movie worth watching for fans of movies like Superbad.
Dazed And Confused (1993)
- Stream now on Prime Video
The Richard Linklater 1993 classic Dazed and Confused is a period piece taking place in the ’70s with high school kids preparing for a party on the last day of school. The seniors are on their way out, the freshmen are on their way in, and Matthew McConaughey is the guy who could never leave high school behind. The cast is a list of stars of the future, but for fans of movies like Superbad, it is the entire focus of the party for high school kids ready to leave that world behind that makes it a can’t-miss coming-of-age tale.
The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
- Stream now on Showtime & Fubo
Judd Apatow is not just a producer mastermind behind some of the best sex comedies of the last three decades, but he is also the director of some pretty amazing entries as well. In another twist on the theme of losing your virginity, Apatow left high school and headed to middle age with Steve Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin. The movie is what it claims to be, with Carell playing a toy hobbyist who has never had sex but sets out with his friends to try to lose his virginity. The movie is a great look for fans of movies like Superbad and what happens when the kids end up waiting for a couple of more decades.
Can’t Hardly Wait (1998)
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Released in 1999, Can’t Hardly Wait is another high school graduation party movie. The movie stars a massive cast of the top young stars of that era with Ethan Embry as the main lead Preston Meyers. He decides that he will finally tell his long-time crush how he feels about her at the party, but things go wrong. The crush is Jennifer Love Hewitt, and the rest of the main cast is filled out by some of the biggest young stars of that generation. The movie shares a lot in common with movies like Superbad, from trying to impress a girl to figuring out what is really important in life.
Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
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Wet Hot American Summer hit in 2001 with a cast that included many cast members of the MTV sketch comedy series The State. There is also a considerable amount of smaller roles for some huge actors that most people know, including Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Molly Shannon, Elizabeth Banks, and Bradley Cooper in his movie debut. This was a summer camp movie that focused mostly on the camp counselors and their interactions. While not about the kids as movies like Superbad focused on, they were there, but it was more about their caretakers ignoring everything about them.
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
- Stream now on Disney+
Over the years, Hollywood has adapted William Shakespeare to the big screen in some unique ways, with many films telling Shakespeare’s stories in a very different light. Arguably, one of the best versions of his plays in a movie came in 1999 with 10 Things I Hate About You. This movie is a re-telling of the Shakespeare play The Taming of the Shrew. It is a high school movie where the new kid in school tries to set up an ill-tempered girl with the high school bad boy to force her dad to let him date her sister. Much like movies like Superbad, this is a movie about kids trying to find their way into adulthood.
Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)
- Stream now on HBO Max
While Superbad is about three high school kids who want to lose their virginity, Hot Tub Tima Machine is about three depressed friends who wish they could go back to their high school days when things were much better in their lives. John Cusack, Craig Robinson, and Rob Corddry star in the film. The twist here is that they end up in a hot tub that sends them back in time, and all three have a chance to not only relive their teenage years but make changes to improve their future. It subverts Superbad, which was about finding the future, by showing three guys reinventing their past.
American Pie (1999)
- Stream now on Peacock
Superbad has three friends wanting to lose their virginity, but American Pie has an entire group of friends trying to navigate the pitfalls of sexuality in their high school years. The movie has five best friends — all virgins save for one (Seann William Scott’s Stiffler) — who want to lose it before they graduate. The film was a massive success and featured three sequels. Just like movies like Superbad, while the main plot might be about losing their virginity in a specified amount of time, it is really about discovering who they really are and moving into adulthood as fully realized men and women.
