Plot

Four years after graduation, an awkward high school genius uses his sister's boyfriend's Labor Day party as the perfect opportunity to make his move on his high school crush.

It's the late 1980s, when Wall Street is riding high, and it seems as if the entire country is cashing in on the bumper profits. Disgusted with the materialism that surrounds him, Matt Franklin, a brilliant young MIT graduate, has walked out on his well-paid position at a local lab and taken a low-level job as a video clerk, much to his father Bill's consternation. And the crises keep piling up in Matt's life. His best buddy Barry has just gotten fired from his job, his brainy sister Wendy is getting hitched to her vapid boyfriend Kyle, and the gorgeous Tori Frederking, long-time object of Matt's unattainable adoration, is suddenly back in the picture. Now, on one wild, woolly and irresponsible evening, everything is coming to a head, with explosive results.—Anonymous

Summer is winding down in the San Fernando Valley, and so are the '80s. But on one final night during Labor Day weekend 1988, five friends' lives will intersect at an all-night party as they declare-for the last time before turning a corner into adulthood. MIT alum Matt Franklin (Topher Grace) was poised to make the most of the Me Decade. He should be in a corner office, starting his upward climb to full-fledged yuppie-hood. Instead, the directionless 22-year-old has taken a part-time job behind the counter of a Suncoast video at the local mall. But when Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer)-the most popular girl from Matt's high school-walks into the store, he decides to take one last swing at greatness. With his twin sister, Wendy (Anna Faris), and their best friend, Barry (Dan Fogler), he rolls out for an epic end-of-summer party. We follow the trio as they say goodbye to the teenage friends and personalities that defined them. As the night wears on, Matt fakes an identity to impress Tori... Wendy faces a proposal from her high school sweetheart, Kyle (Chris Pratt) ... and Barry, having just been fired from his dream job of selling luxury cars, takes a walk on the wild side.—Relativity Media

In the 1980s, in Los Angeles, the video store clerk Matt Franklin is graduated in MIT but is kind of lost and does not know what he wants to be for the great deception of his father, the police officer, who has invested one quarter of his savings to pay the MIT. Matt has a crush on the gorgeous Tori Frederking since the elementary school but he has never invited her to date and she moved to Europe. His twin sister Wendy Franklin has made an application to the master's degree in Cambridge but she is engaged of the brainless Kyle Masterson and afraid to open the Cambridge's letter with the answer. Matt's best friend is the salesman Barry Nathan has just been fired from his job at a car dealer. Out of the blue, Tori comes to the mall and stops at the video store to rent a video and Matt poses of banker to impress her. Tori invites him to go to a party in Kyle's house and Matt, who does not have a good relationship with Wendy's boyfriend, decides to go with Barry. However, he is decided to impress Tori and they rob a Mercedes Benz from Barry's former firm, in the beginning of a very crazy night.—Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Set in 1988, the film begins in a music store with recent MIT graduate Matt Franklin (Topher Grace), his twin sister Wendy (Anna Faris), and his best friend Barry Nathan (Dan Fogler) as they try to figure out when to see Matt's dream girl Tori Frederking (Teresa Palmer). Following graduation, Matt has been working at a Suncoast Video store at a local shopping mall while trying to figure out what to do with his life. While working one day, Tori randomly walks into the store. When she asks him where he works, he lies and tells her he's at Goldman Sachs. Tori then invites him to a Labor Day weekend party held by Wendy's boyfriend Kyle Masterson (Chris Pratt). Matt, Barry and Wendy drive to the party later that night, but before they arrive, Barry steals a car from the dealership from where he got fired earlier in the day for his bad sales record.

At the party, Kyle challenges people to ride the "ball," a hollow steel sphere that is supposed to ride down the street. Matt runs into Carlos (Demetri Martin), a high school classmate who actually works at Goldman Sachs. Barry tries the cocaine Matt found in the stolen car, and is involved in a dance battle, after which Kyle proposes to Wendy.

Matt and Barry leave the party with Tori and her friends to go to a business party in Beverly Hills. During the drive to the party, Tori tells Matt that her boss, Peter (Michael Ian Black) hired her just to see her naked. At the party, Tori reveals to Matt that she hates her job. Matt and Tori leave the party, enter the backyard of a neighbor's home, and jump on a trampoline where they play truth or dare. When they get too far, Matt ends up sleeping with her. Then, Matt tells Tori the truth about his job, causing Tori to become upset and leave.

During the drive back to Kyle's party, Barry tells Matt that he should have that one night of enjoyment. Barry snorts cocaine that was hidden in the glove compartment in the car they stole. He persuades Matt to do it despite driving the car. Matt gets distracted which ends up crashing the car. When they get pulled over by Matt's county sheriff father (Michael Biehn), he damages the car even more to say that Matt should be working for a better company to pay off all the damages. Mr. Franklin lets them off with a warning when they should have been in jail. He tells Matt to take a shot at anything in life.

Matt and Barry return to Kyle's party. Wendy, having earlier told Matt that she applied for graduate school in England at the University of Cambridge, and is scared to open the admissions decision letter. Kyle opens the letter for her, and tells her that she has been rejected.

Matt and Barry walk back to Kyle's party, where Matt tries to tell Tori he is sorry for lying to her, but Tori is unwilling to forgive him. Barry starts to talk to the goth girl he met at the party still high on coke. He tells her that he is going to ride the ball and after one party goer decides not to ride the ball, Matt raises his hand and volunteers to take his place. Barry tries to discourage Matt from riding the ball, even offering to ride it for him but Matt tells him to "fuck off". He climbs into the ball where his sister, Wendy, tells Kyle not to let him ride the ball. Kyle tells Wendy that the hill goes up and the ball is just to scare people because it will actually roll back towards the house. But as Kyle releases the ball it damages several cars and goes off the road, coming to rest in a neighbor's pool. Matt nearly drowns but gets out in time.

Afterwards, Matt tells Tori he wants her home phone number but if he is being too weird, he can leave her alone. Tori is impressed by Matt's boldness by deciding to ride the ball, and he ends up getting Tori's number. Wendy, who didn't want Matt to ride the ball, ends up breaking up with Kyle.

Kyle pleads with her to stay but Wendy tells him 'no'. Kyle sobs uncontrollably as Wendy leaves.

As morning comes, Matt gets the card with Tori's number, and Mr. Franklin finds Matt's Suncoast Video name tag in the pool where the ball stopped rolling.