Everybody Wants Some!!

Richard Linklater's ‘spiritual sequel’ to Dazed and Confused is a seemingly aimless comedy but it has hidden depths

At his best, Richard Linklater's films feel so casual and effortless, it's only later that you realise how deep they go. Everybody Wants Some!! is a lively ensemble comedy following a group of college baseball players as they pursue their dreams and (more pressingly) girls. Linklater's typically fluid, relaxed direction makes it a pleasure to spend time in the company of these characters.

It might seem aimless at times, and nothing more than a good time at the movies, but, in reaching into his own past to make this film, Linklater is also trying to capture the mixed emotions of a key transition point in his life, and the film feels considerably weightier as it drifts towards its climax with the focus shifting to a burgeoning relationship between Jake (Jenner) and Beverly (Deutch), promising broadening horizons and new possibilities.

It's a shame that Beverly is the only female character of note, though, and (along with the clunky title) Linklater's thin and surprisingly crass depiction of women throughout the film is his only real misstep.