OLD
SCHOOL (2003) |
| Starring
Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Pompeo,
Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Craig Kilborn, Perrey Reeves, Elisha
Cuthbert, Seann William Scott, Matt Walsh, Artie Lange, Sara Tanaka,
Harve Presnell, Kate Ellis, Phe Caplan, Sarah Shahi, Terry O'Quinn, Andy
Dick, Breckin Meyer, James Carville, Snoop Dogg and Warren G.
Screenplay
by Todd Phillips & Scot Armstrong.
Directed by Todd
Phillips.
Distributed by Dreamworks Pictures. 91 minutes. Rated R. |
|
Old School
When I was about
thirty, a few friends and I went back up to the old alma mater, Penn State,
for a football weekend. My buddy Drew’s younger brother was a student
there, and he invited us to a frat party. Now, I don’t know if it was just
because we were all single and still went out regularly, or if it was just
naiveté on our part, but we thought we’d still fit in. We were there for
about ten minutes… during which time I realized how much I’d come to rely on
air conditioning in the eight years since graduation… when the host went up
to Drew’s brother and told him, “Hey, don’t take this the wrong way, but
half the people here think your friends are narcs.” And thus ended our frat
party days.
Old School
is made for the people… like we were… who hadn’t quite realized (or at least
acknowledged) that they’d ever graduated. It is the story of three guys in
their mid-thirties who decide to start a college fraternity. The fact that
they are not students or even affiliated with the college is not a serious
problem for the guys in this film… and of course
that leads to the little bit
of an actual plot that intrudes on the 91 minutes of beer and tit jokes.
It’s a teen sex romp, so let’s not burden ourselves with crap like reality.
While this isn’t a great film, some of it is pretty funny. The three guys
are played by a pretty unspectacular group of actors. I’ve always liked
Vince Vaughn, but frankly he has been playing variations of the same
character since his breakthrough with
Swingers.
Less impressive is Luke Wilson as the straight guy; he doesn’t evoke much
reaction one way or the other. (At least he’s not nearly as annoying as his
brother Owen always is, that’s something, right?) I was never a fan of Will
Ferrell in
Saturday Night Live,
I always felt his humor was rather mean-spirited, even when it was aimed at
himself. Well, Ferrell is going for broke here trying to be a breakout
star, but frankly I still find him to be kind of annoying. Oh, and please,
please, PLEASE, Will, we know you have a doughy white shapeless body, stop
showing it off for comic effect in everything you do.
In it’s heart,
Old School
really just wants to be
National Lampoon’s
Animal House,
though it doesn’t reach those giddy heights (actually, it’s
a lot closer to
National Lampoon’s Van
Wilder.)
The guys are stupid and vulgar; the women are clichéd and ciphers. You will
laugh during parts of
Old School,
though you may feel embarrassed by it later.
(2/03)
Jay
S. Jacobs
Copyright
©2003 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: March 30, 2003. 
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Copyright
©2003 PopEntertainment.com. All rights reserved.
Posted: March 30, 2003.
|
