By Muhammad Muzammal
assistant Arts and entertainment editor

Coming off his 12 years in the making magnum opus, “Boyhood,” Richard Linklater returns to his early ‘90s roots for his next effort, “Everybody Wants Some!!” – a coming-of-age story centered on a college freshman’s final days before his first class.

A throwback to Linklater’s free-flowing, teenager-oriented narrative style, “Everybody Wants Some!!” is a funny, light-hearted comedy that is full of the director’s signature philosophical blunders and fresh human wit. Both of these elements add layers to the film, separating it from the “American Pie” crowd of teenage films.

Linklater’s hero is Jake (a great find in Blake Jenner), a sensitive, soft-spoken nobody who we first meet driving his low rider with a stash of old ‘70s vinyl records stacked in the backseat. The camera, always relaxed and never aggressive, films Jake’s point of view which is an exciting perspective.

As Jake arrives at his house, we learn that he’s on a pitcher on the baseball team and meet the rest of his adventurous, always entertaining teammates.

Roll call: There’s the fiendishly entertaining womanizer Finn (Glen Powell), the elusive, friendly California pothead Willoughsby (Wyatt Russell), the stubbornly competitive McReynolds (Tyler Hoechlin), the angry weirdo Jay Niles (Juston Street) and the cool-minded chameleon Dale (J. Quinton Johnson).

Other characters fill in the mix, but these five stayed with me: They are the type of strong men jocks we see in high school and beyond. Linklater’s biggest achievement in the film is showing depth behind this stereotype.

The baseball team attends parties on the nights leading up to the first day of classes. There’s the disco club gala, which erupts in teenage sex chaos back at the house, a country club freestyle rodeo, a punk party and a performing arts party, which although less aggressive than the previous three, is just as creatively staged and a bit more risqué.

The parties act as hotspots for the baseball team members to find their identities. But more so, they give way to the team’s primary goal: sex. At the social core of these players is the lust for sex and the lust for life – hence the title.

The always humorous competitions amongst the teammates, from games of ping pong to Space Invaders, show the characters’ need to win, and you get the feeling they want something more than just the title of Space Invaders Champion.

For Jake, that something is not just sex and winning, but an actual relationship. One of the film’s greatest scenes is a cruising sequence gone wrong. Finn tries to seduce the redhead Beverly (Zoey Deutch) and her friend. Instead, he gets rejected by the ever so smart Beverly, who looks past the rest of the players in the car and stops at the “quiet one in the backseat,”Jake, who is crunched like a tin can between two of his teammates.

The scene helps to jumpstart a journey for Jake that grows into an unexpected bond between himself, a baseball player and Beverly, the fine arts major. It was a thoughtful touch that supports the movie’s view of differing teenage perspectives on the topic of growing up.  

“Everybody Wants Some!!” explores the insecurities and deep questions that your average horny teenager may ask about life. (Freshmen, take note of the discussions about which classes to take and which major to pursue.)  

At the end of the film, class finally starts, but there is no big philosophical statement to validate the film’s seriousness – don’t be fooled by the professor’s mantra on the board.

The ending is, like the events preceding it, a single moment in the lives of these teenage boys in Texas in the 1980s.

For Linklater, life may not be about the big picture but the tiny moments in between.

The film is surprisingly provocative and much more nuanced than your regular teen flick. It is also a fun ride with a killer soundtrack, filled with vibrant hits such as “My Sharona,” “Let’s Get Serious” and “Give Up the Funk.” It also has its share of memorable, visual gags like the freshmen hazing scene, shortly after the team’s first practice.

“Everybody Wants Some!!” is a loosely entertaining film that is not only a worthy follow-up to Linklater’s epic “Boyhood” but a film that stands on its own regard.