|
Mitch:
...and all I want to do is get some fucking sleep.
Beanie: Whoa! Whoa! Why the F-ing? Why in front of the kid? All ya
gotta do is say "earmuffs" to him, and you can say "Fuck, shit, bitch."
Frank: Cock. Balls.
Beanie: Frank, I'm making a point you don't have to celebrate it.
Frank: Yeah, sorry.
 What
would happen if the guys from "Animal House" grew up into men with families and
jobs but refused to grow up? Such is the rhetorical question posed to the
audience in this charming frat house comedy intended for the young male
audiences. Mitch Frank and Beanie are men who refuse to grow up and are
terrified at the notion of moving forward in life and can't deny the men they
used to be despite the fact their wives try to change them into the men they
used to be.
Will Ferrell gives a
hilarious yet subdued performance as Frank, once known as "Frank the Tank"; we
never learn about their past exploits in college and whatnot, but somehow we get
the sense of their past persona's and it all comes out in the open as they open
up a fake fraternity so Mitch can stay in his home due to new college campus
laws. Mitch's friends hold on to their past by living through him throwing
parties, and staging KY jelly matches in the basement in which they lose a
pledge member.
Mitch (Luke Wilson: Alex
& Emma, Home Fries) is the very stiff character who just became single after
accidentally stumbling on his wife Heidi (Juliette Lewis: Natural Born Killers,
From Dusk till dawn) who was in the middle of an orgy, Beanie (Vince Vaughn:
Swingers, Made) is a man who despises his life, but cannot escape it
nonetheless. At the opener of the film he, the best man at Frank's wedding makes
rapid-fire warnings about marrying his wife as she walks down the aisle; "Being
with one vagina for the rest of you life man? Real smart" he remarks with
desperation as she approaches the altar.
Such is Vaughn's gift for
rapid-fire monologues that make him one of the more memorable aspects of the
film. And then there's Will Ferrell's (Saturday Night Live, Elf, Jay and Silent
Bob Strike Back) character Frank who just married yet discovers he is not quite
ready to let go of his past life. Ferrell is more subdued in the film but is
continuously funny with his usual off-beat humble but wild persona, and his
willingness to get naked at the drop of the hat makes way for one of the funnier
scenes in the film.
"Old School" is nothing
new, but it's not terrible; there are actually funny moments during the film
that sparked a laughter from me and the three leads to the film handle it all
very well. Wilson is good, Vaughn is hilarious with much witty comebacks to
Ferrell's sheer idiocy and charm. Ellen Pompeo (Moonlight Mile, Catch me if you
Can) has an utterly adorable role as love interest Nicole who serves as sort of
the life Mitch desires but can't quite get. Nonetheless, where the film lacks in
certain areas it makes up for in witty dialogue that is almost rapid-fire and
laugh inducing. I was entertained the entire way through and couldn't wait to
see what would happen next.
 Ah,
"Animal House", a film truly worth mentioning as possibly the best frat house
comedy flick ever made; unfortunately, as all influential films do, has spawned
over a billion films attempting to mimic the exact same formula with little
success. There were countless awful films released in the eighties and nineties
attempting to become the new "Animal House" (Road Trip, Van Wilder, American Pie
2), but little of the crop were successful in its attempt. The reason for that
is, it's trying to mimic something and recycle the film into something
completely new, when in fact that diminishes the project before the audiences
eyes without even trying.
It's about time Hollywood
comes to the realization that "Animal house" was one of a kind, there's never
going to be another Animal House, there will be nothing to measure up to it, so
for heaven's sake stop throwing these poor imitations at the American audiences,
please. Are all colleges like this? Is there beer chugging guys, girls willing
to get naked at the drop of a hat? Students partying almost non-stop never
actually going to class? I find it hard to believe and wish that the plot
involving a college with this much clichés might go beyond it all sooner or
later.
The film as charming and
funny as it is fails to have an original bone in its body; most of the plot
elements are completely contrived and taken from many other films before it.
There are beer chugs, naked chicks, a jelly fight with women ala "Stripes", an
initiation scene ala "Revenge of the Nerds", a streaking scene ala "Van Wilder",
a competition scene ala "Billy Madison", and all of it is so blatantly contrived
it ends up reminding you of the earlier incarnation rather than thinking about
that exact scene. There are a lot of characters in the film and with them there
are sub-plots galore and a lot of the sub-plots tend to feel unresolved and very
incomplete.
In fact, goddess Elisha
Cuthbert has a small role as a the mind-numbingly hot under-aged vixen who has a
mistaken fling with the character Mitch who has a horrible connection with a
fellow employee, and as funny as a situation that would or could have been, it's
never touched upon, nor is it resolved, Late night talk show host Graig Kilborn
plays the obstacle to the character Mitch's affection towards Nicole as an
arrogant adulterer boyfriend but he's never shown beyond three scenes, his
character is very under-developed, and his storyline where she discovers he
cheated is so short and simply unsatisfying and felt very sloppily done.
Also there are many
scenes in the film that, if they had been further developed might have been
rather interesting including more focus on the fraternity seeing as how the film
revolves around a fraternity, more scenes involving the competition which seemed
rushed, and I would have preferred to see more of the romance plot between the
character Nicole and the character Mitch. The utterly adorable Ellen Pompeo has
really nothing to do in the film except smile with all her charm at Wilson's
character and react to the insanity ensuing; She was excellent in "Moonlight
Mile" and would have preferred to see more of her. It's all so under-developed
and unresolved it inevitably left the film with a sense of un-satisfaction
regarding the quality it might have been capable of conveying yet never
delivers.
Though flawed, cliché, contrived, and poorly
developed, this is also charming, funny, and pulls in some good performances
from Vaughn, Wilson, and Ferrell.
- The "Quality
Cafe" that appears in the movie is also featured in several other movies
including 2001's "Training Day", 2000's "Ghost World", 1995's "Se7en"
and 1999's "Fight Club".
- Director Todd
Philips thought of this movie as a comedy version of 1999's "Fight
Club", and as such there are several references to Fight Club in the
movie. References include (but aren't limited to) the basement wrestling
match, the photocopying of club propaganda at work, the men appearing
worn at work, the restaurant scene, and the behavior of the men during
the initiation phase.
- Director Todd
Phillips has a cameo showing up at the door to ask about the gang bang.
- When Mitch "The
Godfather" comes home early, there is a bowl of oranges on the table. In
"The Godfather", oranges are in scenes where something bad is about to
happen. In this case Mitch is about to discover his girlfriend is
cheating on him.
- Actor/Comedian
Ben Stiller's producing partner Stuart Cornfeld appears as the cab
driver who takes Mitch to the airport.
- The tango picture
in Mitch and Heidi's room on the back wall was done by Vince Vaughn.
- The congregation
at Frank and Marissa's wedding contains Will Ferrell's family members.
- The man who
played Marissa's father and gave her away at the wedding is Will
Ferrell's accountant.
- The foul-mouthed
band playing at the wedding is a real rock band, called The Dan Band.
- Dean Pritchard
calls Sara Tanaka's character, Megan Huang, "Chang". The same mistake
happens to Sara Tanaka's character Margaret Yang in Rushmore.
|
