Everybody Wants Some!! Review

Richard Linklater is a breath of fresh air in a cinematic world that often remains rustled within the confines of public demand.  He pays an homage to his past within his newest work – Everybody Wants Some!!  With an innate ability to make something out of nothing, Linklater is able to demonstrate a depth within his film delivery that is absent within this more lighthearted genre.  On the forefront, we have a pictalization into the lives of one’s college years – often as described as some of the most exhilarating and the most memorable over the spectrum of life.  Within the background; however, and most importantly, we have an examination as to what it means to be human, what it feels like to take risks and are granted a guided light into how one finds the inner self – something that we tend to forget while we are preoccupied with “living” under societal ideals. Everybody Wants Some!! chronicles the lives of the newly inducted class of scholar-athletes within the collegiate world.  We are guided along with the baseball team of a small southern school in Texas.  This team is the best and the most popular on campus.  Merely being a member automatically places them within a class above the rest.  These individuals are idealized by their peers and are viewed as having this identifiable charismatic aura often so desired by the masses.  In this sense, Linklater is careful within his selection of actors to serve as his visionaries.  None of the crew has matured within their acting life.  We may recognize each member, or etch a similar character based upon own casting; however, only enough to know the type of individual that each may represent.  Because of this, we come with our own preconceptions – only to be shattered by the inner depictions portrayed by Linklater. I am careful with my word selection, as I am alluding within generalities.  However, that is how the world tends to categorize.  We act as our own playwright and place our fellow actors within preconceived roles.  We often only allow these placements to follow our carefully defined script.  This hampers the individuality of our counterparts and creates merely an extension of our refined world.  Linklater is careful here, too, as he is fully cognizant of this phenomenon.  College is viewed by societal structure as the time to let loose.  It’s the time where we are given a hall pass to find ourselves and where we finally are able to move outside of this preconceived box that is placed upon us by forces beyond our control.  Linklater is able to utilize this medium to his advantage by placing the audience at an uncommon vantage point.  As the audience moseys about the film, it has an enjoyable experience.  It is able to relive the newly found freedom once experienced through its college years; however, this time – at from a distance. At this placement, we all soak in the experiences while wearing a Kevlar vest - as we view what we deem to be preconceived formulaic scenarios from a wider lens.  We will examine these years with a sense of wisdom; of if we are currently experiencing this time period within our outside world, we will to take a pause before we reintegrate.  This film may seem that is fails to generally depict anything worth capturing.  However, after sitting through its almost two-hour runtime eager for more, the audience should reach an epiphany into how it compartmentalizes the outside world.  Linklater entrusts within his audience that it can have meaningful engagements and can pursue self-exploratory experiences even in extremely shallow of water.  All that we have to do is to take that step back to realize it.