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'Old School' makes escapism tempting
By John Behling
Published:
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
John Behling -- Film Critic
I'm walking, grimacing from the wind that's cutting my face, fumbling in my coat pockets for the keys that are in my pants pocket, wondering what I'm going to eat when I get back to my dorm and not knowing that I've forgotten my cell phone in the car I've just left when they pass me. Four or five figures moving fast in tight formation.
First the girls walking shoulder to shoulder, taking up the whole sidewalk even though neither of them is much wider than a streetlamp.
They're dressed in black, blonde hair hatless, trailing in the bitter wind like a bleached shadow, they're holding cell phones to the sides of their heads on one side, cigarettes clutched in their other hands. I have to step off to the side to let them pass.
And then the boyfriends: silent, coatless, hands in their pockets, following blindly.
I have to take a second for all of this to soak in. As I turn around to watch them pass me I notice another group down the block, maybe seven, I can't tell if they have cell phones but I'm sure that they're smoking. Everyone smokes, this is college.
And then I realize that it's Thursday night and that I'm again witnessing the nocturnal nomadic tribes that make up the SCSU party culture. This splinter-cell organization communicates in house numbers, on cell phones and always without hats.
This is college life, I remind myself. But is this the college life I was promised by movies such as "Animal House," "PCU" and "Road Trip?"
Definitely not. And nowadays, when watching CNN, is almost as depressing as the director's cut of "Magnolia" and Hollywood is doling out cinema Prozac by the fistful (ie. "Two Weeks Notice," "Maid in Manhattan," "The Jungle Book 2," "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days" and "Chicago." I'll take the fictitious "Old School" for SCSU any day.
And I did Friday night, just barely squeezing in to a double-full gigaplex, relieved that I had made it in time and waiting ever so patiently for that sweet sweet Hollywood narcotic: The gross-out, screw-ball college flick.
Mitch Martin (Luke Wilson) is a thirty-something real estate lawyer who has just been shaken from his semi-comfortable existence by catching his wife with another man...and another man and a girl.
To help him get back on his feet again, Mitch's two best friends Frank (Will Ferrell) and Beanie (Vince Vaughn) help turn Mitch's new house (which just happens to be across the street from a university) into a legendary party house and eventually, a fraternity.
Seriously, there isn't anything else you need to know in order to enjoy "Old School," other than it has the goods as far as laughs are concerned, and don't worry you won't have to think about it either.
As expected, Will Ferrell carries this movie. His ability to underplay some scenes and overplay others gives the jokes range as well as force.
Vaughn plays the typical Vince Vaughn better than he did in "Made," and works out very well in the ensemble.
What's left is Luke Wilson, who is somewhat out of place in the genre. His humor, showcased effectively in the offbeat comedies "Bottle Rocket," "Home Fries," and "The Royal Tennenbaums" is somewhat out of place here.
There really isn't too much asked of him in this role either. He's basically the reaction guy, catalyzed by Vaughn or Ferrell and to this end he does alright, but not half as good as his "Tennenbaum's" co-star Ben Stiller who milks the same reactionary jokes in "Meet the Parents" for the entire movie (and I couldn't stop laughing).
Unique from other "teen" movies by the fact that none of the stars are even remotely near to their teens, "Old School" works a new and effective angle on the old formula.
Instead of idolizing 20-something actors who appear to be our age, we idolize 30-something actors with the hope that when we're in our 30s, we'll be something like them. This angle works surprisingly well, and the added bonus of having comedic actors who can actually act puts "Old School" over the top as a comedy.
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