The Rhino's Review of "Old School" -- Rhinotainment

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Date Posted: 17:06:42 03/06/03 Thu
Author: The Rhino
Subject: The Rhino's Review of "Old School"

In 1978, John Landis made a film called "Animal House." It set the bar for college/fraternity films. Many films of it's ilk have come in like a lion and gone out like a lamb. See "Van Wilder" for details. It's kind of like the danger of touching the Ark of the Covenant: You know better.

So why bother making another college/fraternity film ever again? If none will ever raise the bar the "Animal House" set 25 years ago, what's the point? That's the question that was in the back of my mind as I decided to go see "Old School." I figured that even if it sucked, I could see Will Ferrell make an ass out of himself and I would be content.

I think it's safe to say that "Old School" is something of an unofficial sequel of sorts to "Animal House." It's the story of three 30-something college buddies that are now well-domesticated, newly domesticated, or close to being domesticated and finding that they miss the fraternity days of old, so much so that they are going to go to great lengths to relive their past.

Mitch (Luke Wilson) is a young lawyer who decides to come home early from a seminar only to find his girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) in bed with porn on the telly and a blindfolded naked couple wandering around the room trying to find her so they can, you know, get it on. That's not Mitch's bag, so a painful breakup follows and Mitch seems to think all is lost for him. His buddies Beanie (played cooly by Vince Vaughn) and Frank the Tank (the brilliant Will Ferrell) feel his pain in other ways. Beanie is married with two kids and wishing he had thought things through before jumping headfirst into marital un-bliss. Frank is a newlywed and finding out quickly that he and his new wife may not be meant for each other after all.

As a way of getting Mitch out of his rut and finding a release for their pent up party energy, Beanie proposes the boys start up a fraternity. Beanie, a self-made millionaire who owns six Speaker City electronics stores and ever the entrepreneur, envisions a fraternity where age makes no difference, nor does the public service that fraternities, theoretically, are supposed to provide. This will simply be a party house, no more, no less. The frat pledges range anywhere from Freshmen to 80 year old men, all of which just want to be accepted and, well, drunk.

Things are going well until the campus Dean (the ever underrated Jeremy Piven), a nerdy punching bag for the guys in their younger days, decides to exact revenge on the guys for their wrongdoings and get them thrown out of their house...by any means necessary. It becomes a showdown of sorts. Each side trying to one-up each other all the way up to the end. It's a great chase.

I thoroughly enjoyed "Old School." It was a full hearted laughfest and a sharply witted comedy. Not only are all three of the main characters likeable and hysterical, but so are the supporting characters. The beautiful Ellen Pompeo ("Moonlight Mile") plays Mitch's high school crush who comes back into the picture at Frank's wedding. Every time she shows up on the screen, you can't look away. Her sultry eyes keep you glued to the film. Cameos from Snoop Dogg as party entertainment, Craig Kilborn as Pompeo's infidel jackass boyfriend, Seann William Scott as a mulleted petting zoo coordinator and Andy Dick as an oral sex instructor, keep the movie fun and unpredictable.

But the star of the film, by far, is Will Ferrell. He is a human tornado of comedy! Everything from streaking to fun with tranquelizer guns to ambiguousness on the gymnastics floor, Ferrell is an unstoppable rebel force. I expected him to steal the film, but Vince Vaughn, the backbone of the story, throws his machine gun wit with reckless abandon and keeps up with Ferrell with subtelty. This is his best comedic work since "Swingers."

Is it better than "Animal House"? Who knows and who cares! It's a great time at the movies so what more can you ask for? Want more incentive? How about KY Jelly wrestling? "Animal House" never offered that.

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