Inspired by director Richard Linklater’s experiences in college, Everybody Wants Some!! is an exuberant exploration of the excitement and challenges that come with finding yourself in college. While the film’s overwhelmingly male focus may seem regressive at first blush (it definitely wouldn’t pass the Bechdel test), it notably succeeds in promoting a positive, healthy form of masculinity, in a cultural climate when many popular examples are anything but.
Set in 1980, the film follows Texas freshman Jake (Blake Jenner) during his first weekend at school, moving into his baseball team’s off-campus housing, getting to know his new teammates and taking up with a cute theater major (Zoey Deutch).
The film presents a spectrum of men learning to be comfortable in their own skin. There’s country boy Beuter (Will Brittain), concerned that his Christian beliefs won’t stand up to the secular atmosphere of college. Jay Niles (Juston Street) is an alpha-male pitcher whose aggressive behavior is clearly compensating for something. McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin), the team captain, is a natural leader, but his hyper-competitive nature keeps him from really bonding with his team.
As Jake quickly learns through his interactions with his teammates, the guys having the best time (and, not coincidentally, the guys who seem the most balanced) are the ones who feel just fine being who they are, whether it’s what everyone else expects. They’re also the ones most open to new experiences with different groups of people.
Jake, Finnegan (Glen Powell), Dale (J. Quinton Johnson) and Willoughby (Wyatt Russell) are just as happy at a disco bar, a line dance, or an art school party. In their world, overly aggressive behavior is looked down on, and stepping outside your comfort zone is supported, even encouraged. Enjoying poetry, The Twilight Zone, or the works of Carl Sagan? Totally cool. Being a macho jerk? Not so much, as shown when Jay Niles is called out for his selfish, posturing behavior during a batting practice.
The one woman who does have a larger role in the film, Beverly (Deutch) is a fully developed character in her own right, and the conversations she has with Jake feel genuine. She’s attracted to him, but is also very clearly leading her own life, with her own priorities. Both Jake and Beverly have different ideas of what they want to do with their lives, but connect over a shared desire to do something they find meaningful.
During a pool-hall bonding session, the enigmatic Willoughby gives Jake, a fellow pitcher, some words of wisdom about confidence on the mound: “You bring who you are, not what they want,” he tells him.
As in pitching, so in life. College, like the rest of the world, is a landscape filled with diverse people and beliefs, with an added pressure to perform socially and academically. But that doesn’t mean you have to compromise what makes you you, and you shouldn’t expect others to, either.
Everybody Wants Some!! posits that the best way to interact with others, no matter what you — or they — believe, is to simply be willing to meet people where they’re at, appreciate them for who they are, and move forward in friendship.
Being a real man, as it turns out, is pretty much the same thing as being a good person.
Abby Olcese is a freelance film critic and writer based in Missouri. You can find her on Twitter @abbyolcese.
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