By Peter Celauro
Assistant A&E Editor
For years, America’s movie scene has been inundated with college flicks. From “Animal House” to “PCU” to “Road Trip,” as pop culture has grown and changed, Hollywood’s penchant for crazy co-ed high jinks has remained the same. And quite frankly, people are starting to get sick of it.
Fortunately, in 2002 DreamWorks Pictures sensed the staleness of the genre. Taking advantage of the window, the company acted fast and hit hard in 2003 with something new and fresh, something that would surely knock the socks off the 18-35 demographic; a film to change the way America looks at films forever.
The brilliant breakthrough? A college movie … starring old guys.
Now, don’t mistake the sarcasm for ingratitude. Though its premise is certainly nothing groundbreaking enough to write home about, “Old School” is a hilarious, fun-filled flick that most college students will probably enjoy seeing.
Old School is the story of three thirty-something college buddies on the brink of midlife. Beanie (Vince Vaughn) is married with two kids and owns a successful sound system business, and Frank (Will Ferrell) and his fiancé are wed in one of the first scenes of the film. Mitch (Luke Wilson) plans to follow the same path and propose to his girlfriend, Heidi (Juliette Lewis), until he returns home early from a business trip to find out (in a very peculiar way) that she doesn’t necessarily have the same desires for their future.
When the saddened Mitch moves into a new house to try and get back on his feet, Frank and Beanie see the pad as a great opportunity to get girls and party. The two husbands, sensing their 40s speedily approaching, convince Mitch to throw a kegger for the local college kids.
The bash is so successful that the students view Mitch as a neighborhood hero. Perhaps more important, however, it allows the trio to let loose and regress to their carefree, partying college days. Frank and Beanie are so liberated by the experience that they convince Mitch the party shouldn’t be a one-time deal: they must create an off-campus fraternity. After some wacky recruitment techniques and the resulting motley crew of pledges (of various ages), the frat is born.
Despite the actors’ good performances and various funny moments, much of the film can’t avoid being a parody of some other movie.
Viewers are bound to notice parallels between Luke Wilson and Edward Norton’s character in “Fight Club,” as Mitch becomes “the Godfather” to practically every male in town, getting food for free and holding an underground K-Y Jelly wrestling match in his basement.
Then there are the efforts of the conservative and underhanded Dean Pritchard (played by Jeremy Piven) to revoke the fraternity’s right to exist on campus. Movie aficionados may note this scenario as a throwback to “PCU.” In that film, Piven played the exact opposite role: a slacker whose group of buddies struggles to stay on campus despite the efforts of a conservative, underhanded dean. Hopefully, the irony of Piven’s reverse casting won’t be lost on a younger audience.
Finally and most noticeably, there’s the contest. In order to keep the fraternity alive, the brothers must compete with contestants of Pritchard’s choosing in a variety of events. As the ragtag brotherhood trudges its way through an academic debate, a gymnastics meet and a written test, viewers can’t help but think of Billy Madison and his weepy lost puppy story. The similarities between the two movies are so blatant, it is almost enough to make the ending unpleasant.
It’s certainly not enough to ruin the film, however, particularly for fans of a good comedy. Though the premise is anything but Oscar-winning, “Old School” does offer up some good laughs and an interesting romance to boot. And with Will Farrell painfully absent from “Saturday Night Live,” it may be just the remedy for Saturday night blues.
The Broadway Cinema in Santa Monica is currently screening sneak previews of the film daily at 7 p.m. For more patient moviegoers, however, “Old School” opens in theaters everywhere Friday.
February 20, 2003
