DVD Reviews

Post Grad – DVD Review

By Frankie Dees Jan 24, 2010, 13:31 GMT

Ryden Malby (Alexis Bledel) has a master plan. Graduate college, get a great job, hang out with her best friend (Zach Gilford) and find the perfect guy. But her plan spins hilariously out of control when she’s forced to move back home with her eccentric family. By the time she lands her dream job, Ryden realizes it’s meaningless without the man of her dreams...and the people she loves.Michael Keaton, Jane ...more

Post Grad is about as lightweight a comedy as you’ll ever come across. It is an amiable sunny pic perfect to stumble across on cable on some lazy afternoon. I liked it mainly because of the old pro supporting cast that includes Michael Keaton, Carol Burnett and Jane Lynch, but Alexis Bledel ain’t too bad as the star of the show.

The film is ostensibly about young Ryden Malby (Bledel) graduating from college and dealing with the trials and tribulations of being a ‘Post Grad’ and chasing her dream of being in the literary publishing world but ‘Working Girl’ or ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ this isn’t.

The film only partly focuses on its namesake and is more interested in a ho-hum romance between Malby and her best friend since childhood Adam (Zach Gilford) who harbors feelings for her she doesn’t return and the more compelling eccentricities of her California suburban family.

Malby is a bit too optimistic about her future. After a long-term plan of getting good grades in high school, securing a scholarship, and graduating from college, she thinks her dream job of working for a literary publishing giant will fall right into her lap.

Getting a loft close to work, her world comes tumbling down when her school rival swipes the job from her and she’s met with rejection on the rest of her interviews. Left with little choice, she’s forced to move back in with her well-meaning but crazy family that includes her do-it-yourself, go-getting father (Keaton), his politically incorrect mom (Burnett), her oddball little bro (Bobby Coleman) and her relatively sane mother (Lynch).

With the full support of her family and her best bud Adam (Gilford) whose waiting to answer his Columbia law school acceptance letter depending on if he can get Malby to return his feelings, she continues the job search to no avail but a lone bright spot shows up in a sexy Brazilian neighbor (Rodrigo Santoro) whose cat gets run over by her dad but who nevertheless takes an interest in Malby.

This, of course, doesn’t sit well with Adam and he makes it known that he’s done with being ‘friends’ and is leaving for Columbia. Will Malby be able to figure out both life and love? I sure hope so!

Oddly, the pic is directed Vicky Jenson, whose feature film career up to this point has been in animation (she co-directed a couple of Dreamworks Animation juggernauts, ‘Shrek’ and ‘Shark Tale’) which might explain the clunky direction…she’s still getting her feel for live-action? The script is also painfully predictable but the cast gives it their best shot which should at least count for something.

There’s no denying the film has a kind of episodic pilot feel to it, establishing characters but not really following through with them but any chance to see Keaton in an even halfway comedic bent gets a thumbs up from me.

And although Jane Lynch isn’t given much to, Carol Burnett also manages to get in a few choice one-liners. Bledel is fine as the lead and matches the cutesy feel of the film which is clearly aimed at teenage girls so if you have daughters or are a daughter, this would make a fine family evening in.

The film is presented in anamorphic 1.85:1 widescreen with special features including ‘Deleted and Alternate Scenes’, the music video ‘One Day’ by Jack Savoretti and the ‘Post Grad’ Survival Guide which includes helpful tips like ‘Dress for Success’, ‘How Not to Get a Job’, ‘Know Your Strengths’, etc.

I remember critics not being too kind with ‘Post Grad’ theatrically but on the less competitive and cheaper shelves of the video store, benign entertainment like this is certainly worth a rental for the right age groups. The film is a little messy to be sure but the less cynical of us should enjoy it.