Everybody Wants Some!! | A SXSW Film Review

Writer/director Richard Linklater and Austin, Texas have long been a match made in Heaven, each one supporting and nurturing the other, so it was a true privilege to see the premier of Linklater’s newest film, ‘EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!’, at The Paramount Theater in downtown Austin on the opening night of the 2016 South By Southwest (SXSW) film festival. Not only was the director in attendance, but so was most of the cast, all of whom spoke after the film about their experience making it. All in all it was an amazing experience, one I’ll never forget, and the best part was the film itself.

‘EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!’ is being marketed as a spiritual sequel to Linklater’s wonderful ode to Austin in the 70s, ‘DAZED AND CONFUSED’, and that’s something you feel within minutes of the movie’s opening. 1980 is in full effect as our hero, Jake (played by Blake Jenner), drives down dusty streets beneath a summer sun, his backseat filled with clothes, records, and stereo equipment. Soon he parks in front of a ramshackle house, which we learn is the home of a fictional Texas college’s baseball team. Inside we meet the rest of the team, some friendly to Jake and others not so much. It’s a solid introduction to the story and characters, and I instantly felt at home.

Linklater does a lot of things well, and one of those is handle a large ensemble cast. There are a dozen characters that we follow throughout the film, and none of them are wasted or marginalized. That’s no easy feat, but Linklater makes it look easy as we move from Jake to the affable Finnegan (Glen Powell steals every scene he’s in), then onto Roeper (Ryan Guzman), and McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin), Willoughby (Wyatt Russell), and so on. Zoey Deutch’s Beverly is the only female character of any note, but even so she brings a good deal of feminine energy and serenity to what otherwise could have been a testosterone-fest.

As with ‘DAZED AND CONFUSED’, ‘EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!’ is a slice-of-life film. There aren’t any villains to overcome or disasters to stop, no heroes journeys. It’s just a bunch of college students having fun and finding themselves over the course of a few later summer days in 1980s Texas. The ease of the story and the amazing talent of the cast make this a very fun movie to watch, with more laughs per minute than most comedies, and more heart. There isn’t a single aspect of ‘EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!’ that I’d change. Linklater has proven once more that he is a writer and director of incredible skill, and I hope that perhaps in another twenty years or so we’ll get to see his take on the 90s, though something tells me I shouldn’t hold my breath. Linklater is a child of the 70s and 80s, a time when the hippies were fading and the punkers were on the rise, and it’s in that era that his heart seems most at home.

My thanks go out to the people behind SXSW for making the viewing of this movie possible, to Aaron Peterson for encouraging me to attend the festival, and to Linklater and his cast for an amazing first film experience.