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by Jim Pappas Published: February 8, 2003
 Luke Wilson and Will Ferrell share a campus moment with Jeremy Piven in “Old School” Despite some moments that are hilarious, “Old School” is an appalling mess lacking any kind of coherency or logic. There are just so many things wrong with this film that it is hard to find a starting point from where to begin to describe them. The movie opens with Mitch Martin (played by Luke Wilson) returning home early from a business trip. He catches his live-in girlfriend (Juliette Lewis) in bed, about to begin group sex with several people who emerge from the bathroom wearing blindfolds (and little else). It seems Mitch is just too old fashioned to welcome this turn of events. The film then cuts to a wedding, where Mitch’s friend Frank (Will Ferrell, who is the lone bright spot here) is entering into a marriage that ultimately lasts as long as it takes for him to have his first guy’s night out. That night out comes in the form of a house-warming party thrown by another of Mitch’s friends, Beanie (Vince Vaughn) at the new house into which Mitch has moved after breaking up with his girlfriend. The house is near the local university, and Beanie, who is the owner of a chain of electronics stores, spares no expense by throwing a great bash attended by many of the local college students. He even has Snoop Dogg perform as a live musical act. The success of the party disturbs the college’s Dean of Students, Gordon Pritchard (Jeremy Piven), who quickly moves to rid his neighborhood of the perceived threat to the stability of his campus. He visits the house and informs Mitch and his friends that he has had the house re-zoned for campus use only, and that Mitch has one week to vacate the premises. Mitch appears to accept this notice with little resistance, but his friend Beanie has other ideas. Beanie decides to have the house become a fraternity residence and recruits students and others to join, thereby obtaining temporary status as a college related dwelling which allows Mitch to stay. Mitch accepts this turn of events also with little resistance. The film cuts quickly (there are a lot of quick cuts to events and conversations that make little sense in this film) to scenes of pledges being tormented in various ways, mostly by Frank, and the fraternity gains a popular reputation on campus. Why it is popular is never explained, except maybe by the previously mentioned house-warming party. Mitch then becomes a local legend known as “The Godfather,” who even gets his meals free at a local eating establishment. There are many tasteless (some funny, some not) and vulgar moments in “Old School,” including a scene of Frank being discovered running naked through the middle of town by his new wife and some of her friends who are apparently out in conjunction with Frank’s guy’s night. Will Ferrell manages to spend a lot of time in this movie either naked or semi-nude, prompting me to wonder if maybe he is an exhibitionist at heart. Ultimately, I have to question the intentions and character of a studio (Dreamworks) that would greenlight a project such as this. I also have to question the character of all the actors involved. This film is merely another in a slowly descending line of college life related gross-out comedies that seem to get more and more crude over time. I didn’t think anything could be worse than last year’s “Van Wilder,” but I was wrong. This movie is just so chaotic and unorganized that it makes “Van Wilder” seem appealing. The film is directed (poorly) by Todd Phillips, and written (badly) by Court Crandall, Phillips and Scot Armstrong. If I were these gentlemen, I would begin trying to distance myself from this work as quickly as possible, as I doubt another studio will greenlight anything coming from them in the near future. At least I hope so. Overall Rating: D |
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