Some middle-aged men get to return to their glory days when they have to form a fraternity to save one of their houses that is on a college campus. It also put Will Ferrell on the path to stardom on the big screen.
Mitch (Luke Wilson) comes home early from a conference and thinks he catches his girlfriend Heidi (Juliette Lewis) in a compromising position. Well, he actually finds out that she has some freaky tastes that he didn’t know about so they break up. Mitch is in need of a new place to live and he gets a sweetheart of a deal when a college professor dies and he leases his house on campus cheap.
His buddy Frank (Will Ferrell) is marrying Marisa (Perrey Reeves) with Mitch as his best man and his pal Bernie (Vince Vaughn) as a groomsman. Bernie is feeling trapped in his marriage and keeps telling Mitch how lucky he is to be newly single and trying to keep Frank from marrying.
Frank does marry, but Mitch gets drunk at the reception and embarrasses himself when his school crush Nicole (Ellen Pompeo) is also at the party. Bernie throws a huge party at Mitch’s new house, featuring Snoop Dogg, and Mitch is the hit of the campus. Frank gets drunk and ends up getting kicked out of the house by his new bride.
However, Dean Pritchard (Jeremy Piven) is not too happy with the bash as well as being picked on the trio in school so he has the campus rezoned to have Mitch evicted. Bernie then comes up with the idea that they should form a fraternity so that the Dean can’t kick them off campus. That’s when the fun really begins.
Nerds! No. Playboy bunnies! Well, definitely not. Old School is another college frat comedy that follows the plan laid by Animal House. This one does have the difference that our heroes, Ferrell, Vaughn and Wilson, are definitely not college age anymore and rapidly approaching middle age.
It also was also the middle picture in what would establish Ferrell’s career. He started as one of the goofball nightclubbing brothers in A Night at the Roxbury (1998), went Old School, and then cemented his star with the 2003 hit Elf.
It’s been uphill since then but his recent comedies (Semi-Pro and Step Brothers) have started to taper off at the box office. Wilson and Vaughn are the more “mature” of the comedians in this flick as Ferrell gets to go wacky, as he’s become known for. It really is a comedy that might have a tinge of pathos since all of our lead actors are old enough that their characters should know better.
They’re not as wild as they think they are since one of them who have wanted to go wild really passes up the chance when temptation is prancing right in front of him. We have the final act competition when the nerdy, nasty Piven finally gets the frat in trouble and they have to go through a competition to keep their house. It’s a fun movie with a few laugh out loud moments, but it’s nothing that you’ll be screaming “Oscar!” about.
Old School is presented in a 1080p high definition transfer (2.35:1). Special features include a commentary with director Todd Phillips and stars Ferrell, Wilson, and Vaughn. The only high definition special feature is the 2-minute theatrical trailer with the rest being in standard definition.
There are 13 minutes of deleted scenes, a 13 minute “Old School Orientation,” a 13 minute spoof on Inside the Actor’s Studio, 5 minutes of bloopers, and 1 minute of TV spots.
Old School has some funny moments, but if you’re looking for a funnier frat fix you may want to really go old school and go back to Animal House (trust Bluto, he’s pre-med!). There are some laughs here if you just want a snack before that main course though.
Old School (Unrated) [Blu-ray] is now available at Amazon . Visit the DVD database for more information.
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