"Old School" harkens back to the comedies of yester-year.
Namely: the Eighties. In the Eighties, comedy was (I believe) at its
peak. John Belushi was still alive. Chevy Chase was still funny. And
the comedies felt fresh and alive. They were just a lot more fun.
They were rowdy and raucous and they gleefully thumbed their nose
at authority. Sure, they had their dirty and off-color moments, but
they were rooted in the world of the film itself. There were no semen
jokes for a semen joke's sake as there seems to be in most of the
comedies made in this day and age. Nowadays, a comedy believes that
it can be just the same, tired horseshit and pass itself off as being
"daring" and "edgy" just by having a penis-related
gag. But in the old days, it wasn't so much what the film showed and
what sort of scatological humor it could work in. It was more of an
attitude, more of an "anything for a laugh as long as it fits"
sort of mood going on. That mood pervades such classics as "Animal House
" and "Caddyshack" and such psuedo-classics
as "Bachelor Party" and "Fraternity Vacation"
(though not "Meatballs", that movie is just plain ass no
matter how you slice it).
"Old School" may not be as good as the movies I just mentioned.
It's no "Animal House" or "Caddyshack", but it deserves to be ranked
in the annals of films like "Bachelor Party", which is good
enough for me. "Old School's" greatest asset is its willingness
to do anything for a laugh, yet not to undermine its admittedly flimsy
characters. It's also a refreshing throwback to films of the period
I just spoke of. It's got nudity, pranks, an evil college dean (played
with gusto by the underused resource that is Jeremy Piven) and it's
got tons of laughs.
The story, what there is of it, concerns a guy (Luke Wilson, a great
everyman sort of actor) who arrives home early from a business seminar
to find his girlfriend at the center of a gang-bang of sorts. This,
obviously, leads to his depression and a bit too much drinking. That
all changes, however, (well, not the drinking) when he rents a house
near the campus of the local college. When a zoning ordinance and
the evil dean insist that the house must be used for a college function,
his buddies (newly married Will Farrell and unhappily married speaker
baron Vince Vaughn) decide to turn his house into a functioning fraternity.
They enlist pledges, throw parties, and wackiness ensues. Along the
way, Mitch (the main character, whose name I just now remembered)
starts falling for a girl he went to high school with, Frank (Will
Farrell) starts behaving badly and ruining his marriage, and Vince
Vaughn, well, just reaps the benefits. Also, the evil dean starts
doing everything in his power to ruin everyone's fun and sabotage
the frat.
Yes, this is something of a flimsy plot. And it gets even flimsier
as you watch the movie. But shut up. Who cares? This movie is a hell
of a lot of fun. Most every scene in the movie has at least one gag
that left me gasping for air and all of the characters are likable
and played with gusto. Even the few gags that fall flat do not undermine
the goofy, good-natured charm of the rest of the film. It isn't a
genius comedy like "Animal
House" or "Used Cars", but it's a grand step up
from crap like "Road
Trip" and the mildly disappointing "American
Pie 2".
If you're in the mood for fun, "Old School" is probably
your best bet currently at theaters.
