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ollywood loves movies about college
- they have all the sex and fun of high-
school films, without all those annoying
parents getting in the way.
The mack daddy of college movies is 1978's
"National Lampoon's Animal House," which
showed students cramming for the single most
important event of college. No, not final exams
- toga parties. "College," opening Friday and
starring Drake Bell of TV's "Drake & Josh,"
follows the same format of pretty much ignoring
classes and studying and all that worthless stuff
in favor of a crash course in fun. Here's how
other higher-education romps scored.
BACKTO SCHOOL (1986)
The cuniolum: College is wasted on the
young. Uptight kid Jason (future director Keith
Gordon) is so miserable at school that his crass,
fun-loving dad (Rodney Dangerfield) decides to
enroll and make sure Junior has a gas.
The grade: shakespeare for everybodyl
Along with "Caddyshack," this is the movie that
perfectly suited the late, great Dangerfreld, who
got all the respect in the world for these obvious,
low-brow and very funny comedies. Give it an A-.
HOWHTGH(2001)
The cuniculum: Method Man and Redman
are stoners who smoke magical weed and
therefore ace their SATs and get into Harvard,where the student body desperately needs to
mellow oul The guys help.
The grade: Spreading the stoner culture is
at the heart of all genuine multicultural college
party movies, and Method Man and Redman
smoke out fun wherever they go. Grade: Uh, we
forget. A? B?
REVENGE OFTHE NERDS (1984)
The cunfuulum: High school was for the
jocks, but college - along with life - is for the
nerds. Right, Bill Gates? Geeks with names like
Poindexter and Booger are led to glory by tophateful jock. Nerds always get the best grades,
so give it an A+.
ACCEPTED (2006)
The cuniqrlum: Getting into college can
be unacceptably stressful, so Justin Long (the
Mac guy in those PC vs. Mac ads) decides to
make up his own school. Hordes of low-scoring
students show up for registration.
The grade: The spirit is right, and they can
definitely party. But there's an awful lot of
unpleasant learning going on at this school. C-.
REALGENIUS (1985)
flte cunkulum: Chris Knight (a young and
endearing Val Kilmer) is the science-fair geek
of geeks who spends a lot more time planning
elaborate pranks than anything as boring asstudying. Well done!
fhe grade: Chris eventually helps develop a
Iaser. lfs all in good fun until an evil professor
(is there any other kind?) steals it for the
military. The kids swipe it back and have a ball
doing it. That extra-credit work earns them a B+,
HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO
WHITECASTLE (2OO4)
The cuniculum: Harold (John Cho) is too
focused on studying. Kumar (Kal PenD probably
hasn't even bought his textbooks yet - but he's
acing the all-important late-night study break.
Pot smoking + munchies = trip to fast-food joint
The grade: Numerous parties, dissing of
townies, racial barriers studiously ignored plus
Neil Patrick Harris mean H&K go to the head of
the class. This gets a solid A. Michael GilE
ollywood loves movies about college
- they have all the sex and fun of high-
school films, without all those annoying
parents getting in the way.
The mack daddy of college movies is 1978's
"National Lampoon's Animal House," which
showed students cramming for the single most
important event of college. No, not final exams
- toga parties. "College," opening Friday and
starring Drake Bell of TV's "Drake & Josh,"
follows the same format of pretty much ignoring
classes and studying and all that worthless stuff
in favor of a crash course in fun. Here's how
other higher-education romps scored.
BACKTO SCHOOL (1986)
The cuniolum: College is wasted on the
young. Uptight kid Jason (future director Keith
Gordon) is so miserable at school that his crass,
fun-loving dad (Rodney Dangerfield) decides to
enroll and make sure Junior has a gas.
The grade: shakespeare for everybodyl
Along with "Caddyshack," this is the movie that
perfectly suited the late, great Dangerfreld, who
got all the respect in the world for these obvious,
low-brow and very funny comedies. Give it an A-.
HOWHTGH(2001)
The cuniculum: Method Man and Redman
are stoners who smoke magical weed and
therefore ace their SATs and get into Harvard,where the student body desperately needs to
mellow oul The guys help.
The grade: Spreading the stoner culture is
at the heart of all genuine multicultural college
party movies, and Method Man and Redman
smoke out fun wherever they go. Grade: Uh, we
forget. A? B?
REVENGE OFTHE NERDS (1984)
The cunfuulum: High school was for the
jocks, but college - along with life - is for the
nerds. Right, Bill Gates? Geeks with names like
Poindexter and Booger are led to glory by tophateful jock. Nerds always get the best grades,
so give it an A+.
ACCEPTED (2006)
The cuniqrlum: Getting into college can
be unacceptably stressful, so Justin Long (the
Mac guy in those PC vs. Mac ads) decides to
make up his own school. Hordes of low-scoring
students show up for registration.
The grade: The spirit is right, and they can
definitely party. But there's an awful lot of
unpleasant learning going on at this school. C-.
REALGENIUS (1985)
flte cunkulum: Chris Knight (a young and
endearing Val Kilmer) is the science-fair geek
of geeks who spends a lot more time planning
elaborate pranks than anything as boring asstudying. Well done!
fhe grade: Chris eventually helps develop a
Iaser. lfs all in good fun until an evil professor
(is there any other kind?) steals it for the
military. The kids swipe it back and have a ball
doing it. That extra-credit work earns them a B+,
HAROLD & KUMAR GO TO
WHITECASTLE (2OO4)
The cuniculum: Harold (John Cho) is too
focused on studying. Kumar (Kal PenD probably
hasn't even bought his textbooks yet - but he's
acing the all-important late-night study break.
Pot smoking + munchies = trip to fast-food joint
The grade: Numerous parties, dissing of
townies, racial barriers studiously ignored plus
Neil Patrick Harris mean H&K go to the head of
the class. This gets a solid A. Michael GilE