This month marks the 15th anniversary of Superbad, a film that helped launch its young stars' careers and gave audiences a nerdy antihero to cheer for (Side note — was Fogell, aka McLovin, the most relatable character in Superbad?). 

The Judd Apatow-produced comedy was penned by Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen, who wrote the film during their teen years and based the lead characters on themselves. The film follows best friends Seth (Jonah Hill) and Evan (Michael Cera) on their last day of high school. Along with their friend Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the pair attempt to secure alcohol to impress their respective crushes at the end of the year party. Just about everything that could go wrong does, but Seth and Evan's friendship and their shared failed attempts at being "super bad" reinforces the bond of friendship that will carry the pair through their separate college experiences. Hopefully. There hasn't been a Superbad sequel, but Evan and Seth remain besties in our minds. 

Directed by Greg Mottola, the film also stars Rogen, Bill Hader, Martha MacIsaac, Joe Lo Truglio, Dave Franco, David Krumholtz, Martin Starr, and Emma Stone, who makes her feature film debut as Seth's crush Jules. 

The universal high school experience is one that continues to be a rich breeding ground for heartfelt comedies. Whether the focus is on pregnant teens or mean girls, students with overprotective parents and those whose parents need to pay more attention, there are plenty of Superbad-adjacent films that deserve a watch. 

Here, Metacritic selects 10 films like Superbad to watch next, ranked by their Metascore.

Booksmart

Metascore: 84
Best for: Superbad fans who have been waiting for a response from the female gaze
Where to watch:

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Runtime: 102 minutes

Booksmart offers one of the most obvious comparisons to Superbad, even starring Hill's younger sister, Beanie Feldstein. It, too, is told over the final 24 hours of high school for lifelong best friends and not-quite-cool kids Amy (Kaitlyn Dever) and Molly (Feldstein, who earned a Golden Globe nomination for her performance). Olivia Wilde's critically acclaimed directorial debut follows the pair as they attempt to make up for four years of zero parties with one memorable final night. The seemingly impossible task of getting invited to the biggest party of the year still feels easier than the alternative — facing just how much Molly and Amy are going to miss each other at college.

"A perfect balance between sexualized/gross-out humor and sincere admiration for one of the wildest emotional periods of a human being's life, Booksmart screens like a love letter to that best friend who was closer to a life partner than a school chum." — Joelle Monique, Paste

Juno

Metascore: 81
Best for: Fans of fast-paced, heartfelt dialogue with a great soundtrack
Where to watch: 

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Runtime: 96 minutes

Superbad's Cera stars opposite Elliot Page in Diablo Cody's 2007 coming-of-age film Juno. Directed by Jason Reitman, Page plays Juno, a confident, fast-talking teen who gets pregnant by her best friend Paulie (Cera). After weighing her options, Juno decides to continue with the pregnancy and finds a couple, played by Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman, who want to adopt. Packed with quotable lines, a great indie rock soundtrack, and heartfelt performances by the cast, which also includes J.K. Simmons and Allison Janney as Juno's supportive parents, the comedy helped cement Page as one of the most exciting young actors of the early 2000s.

"It's a comedy of crisp, mordant wit and quietly radiating warmth, as well as a coming-of-age story with a lovely twist — you can't always spot the best candidates for maturity." — Joe Morgenstern, The Wall Street Journal

Plan B

Metascore: 74
Best for: Comedy fans who like films with some added substance
Where to watch: 

Runtime: 107 minutes

High schoolers Lupe (Victoria Moroles) and Sunny (Kuhoo Verma) have always been on the outside of the cool group until outgoing Lupe convinces bookworm Sunny to take advantage of her mother's upcoming business trip and throw a house party. A regrettable first sexual encounter between Sunny and her friend Kyle (Mason Cook) takes place, and Sunny wakes up the next morning realizing she needs the Plan B pill. The best friends set out on a quest that forces them to confront issues they had been hiding from each other. Like Superbad, much of the success of Plan B comes down to the natural chemistry of the leads, who show a high aptitude for comedic timing.

"Pointed as the message of Plan B is, nothing supersedes just letting these two characters — traditionally bit players at best in high-school comedies — be themselves. They're a pair of the most authentic 17-year-olds lately seen at the movies, something owed very definitely to two stars in the making in Verma and Moroles." — Jake Coyle, Associated Press

Easy A

Metascore: 72
Best for: Those who like smart comedies with an edge
Where to watch: 

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Runtime: 92 minutes

Stone gets a bump from her supporting role in Superbad to lead actor in Easy A, where she plays smart and funny high schooler Olive. After a lie about losing her virginity spreads around the school, Olive begins helping male coeds who have been unlucky in love by letting them tell other students that they hooked up with her. Olive's relationships with her best friend Rihannon (Aly Michalka) and her crush Todd (Penn Badgely) are negatively affected as she embraces her scarlet letter and R-rated martyrdom. The teen-centric film is rounded out by an impressive cast of adults, including Stanley Tucci, Patricia Clarkson, Thomas Haden Church, and Lisa Kudrow.

"What this high school morality fable really recalls is Clueless — a comedy of very contemporary ill manners drawn from classic literature, an immersion in the young-adult lexicon and a potentially career-making showcase for its lead actress, Emma Stone." — John Anderson, Variety

Blockers

Metascore: 69
Best for: Fans of raunchy comedies with a lot of heart
Where to watch: 

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Runtime: 102 minutes

Superbad's boys' club gets its female answer in 2018's Blockers, which follows three best friends who pledge to lose their virginity on prom night. Their respective parents soon discover the girls' plans, including the overprotective Leslie Mann and John Cena, and largely absent dad Ike Barinholtz. Filled with plenty of physical comedy gags (WWVDD — What Would Vin Diesel Do?) and made by the same producers as Rogen's This Is The End and Neighbors, Blockers offers a refreshing take on high school comedies, proving that teen girls can be just as vulgar and motivated by hormones as the opposite sex.

"Director Kay Cannon's perspective is the film's biggest asset, as it freshens up the traditional formula's inevitable focus on love, consent, and orientation in ways that maintain the sub-genre's trademark raunch." — Randall Colburn, Consequence

21 Jump Street

Metascore: 69
Best for: Fans of buddy cop comedies and high school buddy comedies and really any buddy comedies
Where to watch: 

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Runtime: 109 minutes

Superbad's Hill finds a new bestie in Channing Tatum (sorry Cera) in the fifilm remake of 21 Jump Street. In high school, Hill's Schmidt was a high-achieving nerd while Channing's Jenko was the popular class clown. The pair find common ground post-graduation at the police academy and are excited when they're paired for an undercover mission at a high school. Switching roles, Schmidt's woke way of thinking is now in style, while bully Jenko finds himself out of touch with his one-strap backpack. The film packs in plenty of Superbad-quality laughs and features Dave Franco as popular student Eric, a character close to the one he played five years earlier in Superbad.

"It's more consistently amusing and inspired than an adaptation of an '80s TV show has any right to be." — Nathan Rabin, AV Club

Mean Girls

Metascore: 66
Best for: Saturday Night Live viewers and YA comedy fans
Where to watch: 

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Runtime: 97 minutes

Homeschooled Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is a fish out of the water on her first day at her new high school. She quickly befriends Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damian (Daniel Franzese), who explain the different cliques, including the uber-popular Plastics. When Cady is invited to eat lunch with the Plastics, led by head mean girl Regina (Rachel McAdams), Janis convinces Cady to infiltrate the group and get dirt on them. The plan works until Cady becomes an actual mean girl. The highly quotable, totally fetch film, which is now a Broadway musical, was written by Tina Fey and stars several fellow SNL alumni, including Tim Meadows, Ana Gasteyer, and Amy Poehler as a cool mom (not a regular mom).

"A smart little teen picture that, for a change, actually features recognizable teens." — Peter Rainer, Vulture

Mid90s

Metascore: 66 
Best for: Fans of dark coming-of-age films
Where to watch:

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Runtime: 85 minutes

First-time writer and director Hill didn't set out to remake Superbad with his semi-autobiographical mid90s, but he did focus on young characters who are straddling the line between adolescents and adulthood. In mid90s, Hill's offers a much darker take on the teen years. The film focuses on 13-year-old Stevie (Sunny Suljic), who is looking to escape his absentee mom and abusive older brother, eventually finding acceptance in a group of skateboarders. Comparison's to Harmony Korine's Kids were bound to pop up, and Hill even cast Korine in his debut film.

"Hill's made an unabashed love letter to a particular decade, sure, but also to a specific moment in everyone's life. And while he undercuts his own movie by romanticizing even the most extreme experiences of lost innocence, the purity of Stevie's longing makes the movie's wistful fantasy understandable." — Elizabeth Weitzman, TheWrap

Fast Times At Ridgemont High

Metascore: 61
Best for: Fans of classic comedies with several "before they were famous" appearances
Where to watch: 

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Runtime: 90 minutes

Superbad's popularity has earned it a spot in the coming-of-age comedy genre, an area Fast Times At Ridgemont High has been part of for decades. Directed by Amy Heckerling and written by Cameron Crowe, the 1982 film is set in a middle American high school and features similar R-rated gags and emotional moments that are littered throughout Superbad. Also, like Superbad, the film acts as the first major credit for many members of its mostly unknown cast, including Jennifer Jason Leigh, Sean Penn, Nicolas Cage, Eric Stoltz, Forest Whitaker, and Anthony Edwards.

"Fast Times at Ridgemont High could have been the sleeper success of the summer, but uncertainty of tone and a lame, derivative ending reduce it to the status of a missed opportunity." — Terry Kelleher, The Miami Herald

Good Boys

Metascore: 60
Best for: Superbad fans hoping for a prequel
Where to watch: 

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Runtime: 90 minutes

It shouldn't come as a surprise that 2019's Good Boys was produced by writers Rogen and Goldberg since the film feels like a prequel to Superbad. Instead of high school seniors, Good Boys follows sixth-graders Max (Jacob Tremblay), Thor (Brady Noon), and Lucas (Keith L. Williams). The trio's attempt to learn how to kiss in preparation for their first girl-boy party goes awry, sending them on a dangerous and often hilarious adventure to replace Max's father's drone they accidentally lost. Plenty of raunchy jokes make up the R-rated film that the cast is too young to see in the theatre. It's kinda like Stand By Me, but with a sex swing. 

"Its kids-say-the-funniest-things gags become one-note, but Good Boys has consistent laughs, winning performances, and a dollop of sweetness to boot." — Ben Travis, Empire