Old School
By: Eddie Milisits
Director: Todd Phillips
Writers: Court Crandall, Todd Phillips, Scot Armstrong
Starring: Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Pompeo
Length: 91 min.
Released: 2003
Old School is an instant classic about three men trying to recreate their college years by being as wild and reckless as possible.
Whether it’s ky jelly wrestling matches, getting shot with a rhinoceros tranquilizer, or streaking alone through town, Old School keeps you on your toes and undoubtably keeps you laughing. In the beginning of the movie, Mitch (Luke Wilson) comes home from a business trip to find his girlfriend having an affair with two other blindfolded strangers, and decides to move out. He rents a house that just so happens to be located outside the campus of a nearby college. The Dean of the college, Dean Pritchard (Jeremy Piven), was bullied in high school by Mitch and his two friends Frank (Will Ferrell) and Beanie (Vince Vaughn), so he tries to do everything in his power to get Mitch evicted. Dean Pritchard orders for the house to be zoned for additional student living space. Beanie and Frank challenge this by coming up with the idea to turn the house into a fraternity. Mitch doesn’t necessarily like the idea because he’s trying to impress his high school crush Nicole (ellen Pompeo). Nevertheless the trio then go through many hilarious and wild antics while acquiring pledges. Subsequently, Dean Pritchard then throws another curveball at the gang by forcing them to be subject to a charter review. If the fraternity as a whole is unable to pass, the house would be taken and all students involved would be expelled.
Old school provides a hysterical outlook of three men trying to relive their college dreams. The type of humor infused in Old School is similar to that of other movies featuring Ferrel or Vaughn, such as Wedding Crashers, Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, and Dodgeball. Keeping this in mind, the comedy style at times can be somewhat halfwitted. For instance, there is a debate that occurs where Will Ferrell, seemingly feebleminded throughout the movie, is able to answer the question extremely intelligently and win the debate. There is no precedent that would explain why this would ever happen. However, this is only one of a few instances of dry comedy throughout the movie. Instances of insanely comedic scenes such as dressing up as kidnappers and stealing pledges in a white van, or a 90 year old pledge named Blue wrestling two half-naked college girls in a blowup pool of ky jelly, are present throughout the entire movie.
Overall, Old School gives a hilarious outlook on certain aspects of college life. There isn’t a dull moment throughout the movie, and you can never guess what’s going to happen next. However, the movie is rated R, and contains a good amount of sexual content, profanity, nudity, and a lot of partying. Nonetheless, Old School will make you laugh and is definitely worth the watch.
