Over the course of two hours, Everybody Wants Some!!, Richard Linklater’s “spiritual sequel” to 1993’s Dazed and Confused, goes from detestable to damn near loveable—it’s an eventually enjoyable movie that I almost walked out of. It’s broad and cheesy and kind of porny, but eventually you come to realize that it’s not “college” porn, but a very specific porn based on an idealized version of Linklater’s own college experience. College hijinks have been done to death, but there’s something endearing and slightly universal about a middle-aged man looking back on his college years and only remembering the parts that were super awesome(!!).
The story’s set in 1980, in the days before classes start at a Texas college. As in Dazed and Confused, the protagonist is once again a baseball pitcher (Jake, played by Blake Jenner); the themes once again are hazing and finding yourself; and, once again, everyone is trying to get laid. The opening scene, with Jake driving his cool muscle car to “the baseball house” to meet his new teammates/roommates, is set to the Knack’s “My Sharona” (ugh), which soon gives way to “Rapper’s Delight,” which the cast sings along to (ugh x 10). It feels a little like a musical theater production of Debbie Does Dallas.