The film primarily follows Jake (Blake Jenner) during his first week of living at the college-owned home, where the educational establishment houses all their baseball students, ahead of his first proper lesson as college boy. Almost immediately he's introduced to the rest of his team and their different personalities, and accompanies them to the clubs, parties and women that they encounter. He soon garners an interest in one girl who blew off his new-found friends (played by Zoey Deutch, quickly making up for her similar turn in Dirty Grandpa earlier this year), and makes an effort for her before lessons start up, but not before breaking the cardinal rules of the house set by the college, experiences a mini-identity crisis and taking some Mary Jane. Together with the whole band of brothers, join Jake and company in their escapades of getting drunk, laid and high.
Much like many of Linklater's earlier projects, the story behind Everybody Wants Some!! isn't exactly a proper story; it's more a series of events based around the large cast of characters, of which we're quickly taken by and feel a part of. It’s a comedy that doesn't need to be a laugh-a-minute venture but instead a slow-burning (sitting at a surprising 120 minutes) ensemble piece which often has plenty to laugh about – whether it's its set of bizarre and screw-loose characters and how they react (or rather, overreact) to certain events, the way the somehow sane compete about practically everything, or even just the stupid things they sometimes say for whatever sake they believe in, ranging from standard conversations ("Did he just call [his genitals] a joke?") to flirtation techniques. But if there is an element where the story, and in turn the screenplay, falters is in its approach towards the Jake/Beverly plotline, as it's introduced early on but doesn't actually begin until about an hour in – a real tragedy because the two share what feels like some genuine chemistry and, with some additional focus in the first hour outside of a couple of glimpses could have made for an interesting look at the first steps to a university relationship. But with some good laughs, well-written characters and a nifty soundtrack to boot, it's an issue that thankfully doesn't hinder the whole film.
Some may call Blake Jenner's Jake a little bland – the pretty lead who's personality we don't delve that far into it save for his mildly "stalker" approach to finding Beverly and his basic jock nature (bar the dumb thinking; that's saved for another member of the team) - but he's more a vessel for we the audience to feel like we're part of the gang. Add the factor that Jenner is incredibly likeable and never comes close to annoying and you have a main character who, whilst a little plain, is one you're more than fine spending a long time with. Zoey Deutch is equally likeable as Beverly and really shines in amongst the more unique party atmosphere that she prepares for, but it’s a little depressing that's the only major female role here that isn't overly-sexualised or later discarded. It's obviously not intended to come across as such, but a few more named women here and there who don't end up in mud wrestling matches or just plain old sex would have been nice.
The rest of the baseball gang, which there are too many to count but are all so delightful and fun, offer some fine counter-programming to that though, as when they aren't scoring women and home runs are just a real barrel of laughs and love. The most notable of which is Glen Powell as Finnegan – the semi-leader and the one who takes the biggest shine to Jake – who's antics are fun to watch and whose efforts in womanising are by far and away the most impressive/hysterical. There's Austin Amelio as Nesbit who looks suspiciously like Matthew McConaughey from Dazed and Confused; Wyatt Russell as stoner Willoughby adds some conventional but nonetheless humorous pothead; Juston Street as the potentially-insane fitness nut whom no one particularly likes; Ryan Guzman as Finnegan's number two guy; Forrest Vickery as the slow-going 'Coma' lends that typical jock dumbness that the rest of the gang is lacking in; Tanner Kalina as a fellow first-year with barely a moustache; J. Quinton Johnson as Dale provides some good insight into the world around us...there's so many of them that it's hard to cover them all, but they're all so great that deserves to be mentioned.
Richard Linklater may not be best known for his visual style, and it's evident with Everybody Wants Some!! that this is no exception, but more for his control and direction of his actors, which is easily detectable from his large cast of jocks and chicks. But that's not to say the cinematography isn't great – it lends itself to some great visuals and camera angles, but nothing that could be considered as artsy as many of Linklater's contemporaries. It's never dull-looking or generic; more so just there to capture both the events occurring and the vast 80s landscape that surrounds the characters.
Everybody Wants Some!! is a film that's obviously made from the heart as opposed to one constructed to appease to the masses, and some may find the overly-sexualised women a little too much to handle in this modern age of movie-making, but this 80s-based movie is a fun two hours filled with loveable characters and some good laughs here and there. And with a fine 70s-centric soundtrack to boot, it's just another hit for Linklater. 8/10.
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