If you’re a fan of the raunchy yet heartfelt humor of Superbad, you’re in for a treat! We’ve compiled a list of 20 best movies like Superbad that capture the same spirit of adolescent misadventures, awkward romantic pursuits, and enduring friendships. From classic teen comedies of the ’80s to contemporary gems, this curated collection offers a perfect blend of laugh-out-loud moments and touching coming-of-age stories.
Whether you’re in the mood for outrageous party antics, cringe-worthy sexual escapades, or simply a nostalgic trip down memory lane, these films deliver the goods. So grab some popcorn, gather your friends, and get ready to embark on a hilarious journey through the best in teen comedy cinema. Let’s dive into our list of movies like Superbad that are guaranteed to keep you entertained and reminiscing about your own youthful shenanigans!
1. Booksmart (2019)
Booksmart is a coming-of-age buddy comedy directed by Olivia Wilde in her feature directorial debut. The film stars Kaitlyn Dever and Beanie Feldstein as two academic overachievers who decide to break the rules and party on their last day of high school, determined to cram four years of fun into one night.
Like Superbad, Booksmart focuses on the close friendship between its two lead characters as they navigate the challenges and awkwardness of adolescence. It’s a hilarious and heartfelt look at female friendship and self-discovery. The movie was praised for its fresh take on the teen comedy genre and the performances of its young cast.
2. American Pie (1999)
American Pie is a classic teen sex comedy that follows a group of high school seniors who make a pact to lose their virginity before graduation. The ensemble cast includes Jason Biggs, Chris Klein, Thomas Ian Nicholas, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Tara Reid, Mena Suvari, and Eugene Levy.
American Pie was a huge box office success and spawned a franchise with multiple sequels. Like Superbad, it deals with the raunchy misadventures of horny teenage boys on a quest to get laid. It balances gross-out humor with a surprisingly sweet story about friendship and growing up.
3. Project X (2012)
Project X is a found footage comedy that chronicles a wild high school party that spirals out of control. Three unpopular seniors throw a birthday party to make a name for themselves, but as word spreads, the party grows to epic proportions with thousands of attendees, resulting in chaos and destruction.
If you enjoyed the outrageous party scenes in Superbad, then Project X takes that concept to the extreme. It’s a crazy, adrenaline-fueled ride full of raunchy jokes, gratuitous nudity, and wanton property damage. The movie generated controversy for allegedly inspiring real-life copycat parties.
4. The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
The 40-Year-Old Virgin stars Steve Carell as the titular character, a middle-aged electronics store employee whose friends resolve to help him lose his virginity when they discover his secret. The film co-stars Catherine Keener, Paul Rudd, Romany Malco, and Seth Rogen.
Directed by Judd Apatow, who also produced Superbad, The 40-Year-Old Virgin shares a similar style of humor. It’s raunchy and occasionally juvenile, but also disarmingly sweet and grounded by the likability of its cast. The movie was a critical and commercial hit that helped launch Steve Carell’s film career.
5. Knocked Up (2007)
Another Judd Apatow production, Knocked Up stars Seth Rogen and Katherine Heigl as a slacker and a career-minded woman who have a one-night stand that results in an unplanned pregnancy. The two very different people attempt to start a relationship as they prepare for parenthood.
Like Superbad, Knocked Up mixes crude sexual humor with insights about love and growing up. Rogen is charming as the immature but well-meaning Ben Stone, and the movie’s heart comes from its depiction of an unlikely couple learning to care for each other. It also features a great supporting cast including Paul Rudd, Leslie Mann, and Jonah Hill.
6. Pineapple Express (2008)
Pineapple Express is an action-comedy starring Seth Rogen and James Franco as a process server and his marijuana dealer who go on the run after witnessing a murder. Danny McBride, Gary Cole, Rosie Perez and Craig Robinson co-star.
The film reunites the Superbad writing team of Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg and features a similar brand of irreverent stoner humor. But it adds a twist with its violent action movie parody elements. Pineapple Express is a funny and unexpectedly thrilling ride with great chemistry between Rogen and Franco.
7. 21 Jump Street (2012) & 22 Jump Street (2014)
21 Jump Street and its sequel 22 Jump Street are action comedies loosely based on the 1980s TV series. They star Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum as two immature cops who are assigned to go undercover as high school and then college students to investigate crimes.
Both movies gleefully subvert the tropes of the teen movie and buddy cop genres to hilarious effect. Hill and Tatum make for an unlikely but highly entertaining comic duo. Like Superbad, there are plenty of raunchy jokes and slapstick gags, but also an underlying sweetness and camaraderie between the leads.
8. Dazed and Confused (1993)
Dazed and Confused is a coming-of-age comedy set on the last day of school in 1976 Texas. An ensemble cast of up-and-coming young actors including Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Matthew McConaughey, and Parker Posey portray various groups of teenagers as they celebrate and ponder their futures.
Writer-director Richard Linklater’s film has been praised as an authentic, nostalgic portrait of the 1970s and a timeless depiction of the joys and anxieties of youth. Like Superbad, it’s a funny and ultimately sweet look at the bonds between friends during a pivotal moment in their lives. The movie’s quotable dialogue and great 1970s rock soundtrack have made it a cult classic.
9. Can’t Hardly Wait (1998)
Can’t Hardly Wait is an ensemble teen comedy that takes place at a high school graduation party. It follows various overlapping storylines as multiple characters pursue love and sex, settle scores, and prepare for the future over the course of one eventful night.
The movie has been noted for its time capsule depiction of 1990s youth culture, with references to the decade’s music, fashion and technology. While not as raunchy as Superbad, it shares that film’s bittersweet tone in portraying teens on the cusp of major life changes. The cast includes Jennifer Love Hewitt, Ethan Embry, Charlie Korsmo, Lauren Ambrose, Seth Green and Melissa Joan Hart.
10. Risky Business (1983)
Risky Business stars Tom Cruise in one of his earliest lead roles as a straight-laced high school student who gets in over his head when he turns his parents’ house into a brothel while they are out of town. It co-stars Rebecca De Mornay as a prostitute who becomes his girlfriend and business partner.
The movie was a big hit that helped establish Cruise as a star. It’s a stylish, sexy comedy with a great new wave soundtrack. Like Superbad, it’s about an awkward but basically decent teenage boy pursuing love and popularity. And both films feature iconic scenes of their protagonists lip-syncing and dancing in their underwear.
11. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is a classic teen comedy written and directed by John Hughes. Matthew Broderick stars as the titular character, a high school wise guy who skips school for a day in Chicago with his girlfriend and his uptight best friend, all while evading the school’s principal.
Ferris Bueller is like the cooler, more confident and popular inverse of the Superbad boys. But the film is similarly rooted in the perspective of teenage characters as they rebel against authority and navigate friendship and romance. It’s a funny, heartwarming celebration of youthful freedom that has resonated with generations of moviegoers.
12. Porky’s (1982)
Porky’s is a raunchy sex comedy set in 1950s Florida. It follows a group of horny high school boys as they seek to lose their virginity and get revenge on the corrupt owner of a local brothel. The film was a major box office hit that spawned two sequels and helped establish the teen sex comedy as a viable subgenre.
Porky’s is far cruder and more problematic in its sexual politics than Superbad. But it undeniably paved the way for the teen sex comedies that followed, with its unapologetic focus on lusty adolescents getting into bawdy hijinks. The film has also been praised in some quarters as a surprisingly accurate representation of 1950s teen life.
13. Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Fast Times at Ridgemont High is another influential early 1980s teen sex comedy, based on Cameron Crowe’s book chronicling his experiences going undercover as a high school student. The ensemble cast includes Sean Penn, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judge Reinhold, and Phoebe Cates.
Compared to the broadness of Porky’s, Fast Times aimed for a somewhat more naturalistic and empathetic depiction of the teenage experience, balancing its sexual shenanigans with insights into the challenges of adolescence. In that sense it set the template for later teen comedies like Superbad that mixed raunch and heart. Sean Penn’s Jeff Spicoli remains an iconic cinematic stoner.
14. Weird Science (1985)
Weird Science is a sci-fi tinged comedy from writer-director John Hughes. It stars Anthony Michael Hall and Ilan Mitchell-Smith as two nerdy teenage boys who use a computer to create the perfect woman, played by Kelly LeBrock. She helps them stand up to bullies and become more confident and popular.
The movie has been noted for its problematic gender politics and silly plot. But as a depiction of awkward, horny teenage boys and their adolescent fantasies, it fits right in with films like Superbad. There’s a sweetness to the bond that forms between the boys and their creation. The film is also riotously funny, with many memorable quotes and gags.
15. The Girl Next Door (2004)
The Girl Next Door stars Emile Hirsch as a straight-laced high school senior who falls for his beautiful new neighbor, played by Elisha Cuthbert, only to discover that she is a former porn star. He decides to help her escape her past and start a new life, but her old producer has other ideas.
Like Superbad, the film is a mix of romantic comedy and raunchy sex humor with a lot of heart. It explores the anxieties and hang-ups that come with burgeoning teenage sexuality. Hirsch and Cuthbert have great chemistry and the film has fun upending the cliches of the teen movie genre while still delivering an ultimately sweet love story.
16. EuroTrip (2004)
EuroTrip is a raunchy comedy about a group of American teenagers who embark on a wild trip across Europe after one of them is dumped by his girlfriend. Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Michelle Trachtenberg, and Travis Wester star as the friends whose misadventures include run-ins with soccer hooligans, nude beaches, and a Slovak street festival.
Like Superbad, EuroTrip is gleefully vulgar, full of gross-out gags and sexual humor. But it also has an infectious energy and sense of fun, with some surprisingly catchy original songs on the soundtrack. The film pokes fun at the ugly American tourist stereotype while also celebrating the thrill of youthful, cross-cultural exploration.
17. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
Wet Hot American Summer is a surreal parody of 1980s summer camp movies set on the last day of camp in 1981. It features an all-star cast of comedic actors including Janeane Garofalo, David Hyde Pierce, Molly Shannon, Paul Rudd, Christopher Meloni, Elizabeth Banks, and Amy Poehler.
The film was a box office flop on its initial release but has since become a cult classic. Like Superbad, it’s a showcase for a murderer’s row of comic talent, with everyone committing fully to the bit. The jokes fly fast and furious, from the mundane to the surreal, adding up to a giddy, absurdist romp that captures the anything-goes spirit of youth.
18. Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
Everybody Wants Some!! is a spiritual sequel to Dazed and Confused, written and directed by Richard Linklater. Set in the 1980s, it follows a group of college baseball players as they navigate the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood over the course of the weekend before classes begin.
Like Superbad and Dazed, the film is more of a hang-out movie than a plot-driven one, an affectionate look at the joys and pains of youth. Linklater’s naturalistic style and the talented young ensemble cast make you feel like you’re really there, getting to know these characters. It’s a funny, nostalgic portrait of a specific time and place that also feels universal.
19. Blockers (2018)
Blockers puts a gender-swapped spin on the teen sex comedy. It stars Leslie Mann, Ike Barinholtz, and John Cena as three parents who discover their teenage daughters’ pact to lose their virginity on prom night and set out to stop them.
The film flips the script on movies like American Pie and Superbad by focusing on the female perspective and exploring the double standards and judgment that teenage girls face when it comes to sex. But it’s also just really funny, mining a lot of humor from the panicked parent characters and their ridiculous attempts to control their daughters’ sexuality. At the same time, it’s ultimately a sweet and sex-positive coming-of-age story.
20. Good Boys (2019)
Produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, Good Boys is basically Superbad with an even younger cast. It stars Jacob Tremblay, Keith L. Williams, and Brady Noon as three sixth-grade boys who ditch school and embark on an epic journey while carrying accidentally stolen drugs, being hunted by teenage girls, and trying to make their way home in time for a long-awaited party.
Like Superbad, Good Boys is a very funny and ultimately heartwarming story about friendship and growing up, with a lot of raunchy humor along the way. The young stars are all terrific, capturing the innocence and confusion of tweenage boys. The film’s depiction of early-adolescent male friendship feels authentic and endearing even amid the craziness.
So there you have it – 20 great comedy movies to check out if you’re a fan of Superbad. From raunchy teen sex romps to bittersweet coming-of-age stories, these films all capture something of Superbad‘s hilarious yet heartfelt spirit. Whether you want something contemporary like Booksmart and Blockers or a retro classic like Fast Times at Ridgemont High, there’s sure to be something on this list to make you laugh. So grab some friends, some snacks, and enjoy!
