All the things about college, none of the education: the
perfect tagline for the classic college movie, Old School directed by Todd
Phillips. The 2003 comedy stars three big name celebrities, Luke Wilson, Will
Ferrell and Vince Vaughn, all frequently praised for their laugh out loud
commentary and hilarious characters. Like most of their films, all three men do
not disappoint. The trio keeps the moving flowing even when you, not often, but
still do wonder why the heck any of the parts of the movie are actually going
on.
Mitch, played by Luke Wilson, attempts to start a new life
in a house next to his old college campus after breaking up with his girlfriend
because of her newly revealed “hobby.” All things start to fall into place
until Dean Prichet, actually a former student of the same high school who they
called “Cheese” and frequently beat up, deems the house campus property for a
college purpose and threatens to evict him. Mitch’s best friends, Beanie (Vince
Vaughn) and Frank’s (Will Ferrell) idea? Start a fraternity. Their pledges
consist of only a handful of actual college students, random men and one eighty
nine year old senior citizen. The band of misfits works hard to keep their
party reputation up while still trying to keep their charter. The three men return
to college and relish in a few more ups and downs then they expected.
From the opening scene to the one where Snoop Dogg just
casually shows up at “Mitch-a-Palooza,” the quick one-liners and shenanigans
never stop, perfect for a college movie. Will Ferrell at times steals the spotlight
with his portrayal of a recently married, yet extremely immature thirty year
old who loves to drink and occasionally streak. He even takes his role as
pledge master a little too seriously. Ferrell was nominated for a MTV Movie
Award for Best Comedic Performance for his role. There is never a dull moment
when Frank “the Tank” is on screen.
At times, however, the actual events of the movie became
impractical. The plot skews far off the course of actually being realistic. Most
moviegoers cannot mentally place themselves into the cast of characters. While
the plot line is far from realistic, the dialogue and delivery of the dialogue
makes the movie enjoyable enough that I did not even care.
Old School is perfect for the young adult audience, mainly college
kids who hope and pray that something like this will happen at their school. It
is also perfect for adults around Mitch, Frank and Beanie’s age, whom
blissfully wish that sometimes they could head back to college. I would,
however, advise against those adults from bringing their children to the movie
theatre that day. They are certainly not ready for this kind of college comedy.
Although the plot is sometimes impractical, overall, Old
School, is a great light hearted comedy with a cast of actors who portray their
characters perfectly as men in their thirties turned frat brothers.
Luke Wilson Will Ferrell Vince Vaughn
