Three snouts enthusiastically pointed up and snorting loudly for Super 8 in theaters everywhere now. My son thinks I should give it 3 and a half snouts and that's probably more accurate but I have a 5 snout system just so I don't have to give half snouts (and what would half a snout be anyway, it's just disturbing).
The movie is compellingly set in 1979 small town Ohio, focussed on a bunch of high school freshmen boys and the movie they make and the conspiracy they stumble upon. It's fast-paced, well-written, funny, exciting, scary and overall enjoyable. They definitely get 1979 (with few exceptions: it bugged me that they had a kid saying "that shit is over" about breaking up with his girlfriend. That is very 2011, but not very 1979.). In 1979, I graduated from high school ("'79, the class that's fine", prom theme: Cheap Trick, Heaven Tonight) and my nearest brother graduated from 8th grade and hung around with boys who looked, acted and dressed dead-on to the kids in this film. I loved that.
I'm docking the film two snouts for these reason: first, there are one too many credibiity gaps. One suspends disbelief for sure, but we do expect high budget films to have an internal consistency that this one (despite getting the era right) lacks. Secondly, it's no Casablanca. It's just good summer fun.
