The Unseen Movie Review: Accepted

By Robert Dixter Aug 6, 2006, 3:08 GMT

High school senior Bartleby "B" Gaines (Justin Long) is on his way to scoring eight out of eight rejection letters from colleges--which isn\'t going to go over big with Mom and Dad. At least he\'s not alone in the exclusion. Several of his crew of outcast friends are in the same, college-less boat. So...how does a guy facing a bleak career please his parents and get noticed by dream girl ...more

I know Oliver Stone has always enjoyed examining U.S. history from a very subjective point of view (who could forget the now classic film ‘I Think I’m Barfing Japanese’ about Bush senior’s trip to Japan), but I have to admit I was pretty surprised that even he could make a movie five years after the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

Even worse than re-creating that tragic day is that he has the balls to call his film ‘World Trade Center.’

“Hey Oliver, instead of making this film, you should have taken your time and maybe fixed ‘Alexander’” (and don’t tell me that his Director’s cut was any better).

So instead of slapping Ollie’s hand for the rest of this column let’s discuss ‘Accepted.’

We’re at a time now in the movie calendar when summer is winding down and studios tend to put out smaller fare. They’re not hoping for the big audience, big bucks that they were trying to grab with the tentpole pics of May and June. (Tentpole: Where’s Beavis when you need him?)

That said, sometimes a gem manages to sneak through and surprises both the movie going public and the studio releasing it, like ‘The 40 Year Old Virgin.’  I’m hoping for that magic with ‘Accepted.’

The film stars Justin Long as a guy who gets rejected from all the colleges he applies to so he does what any guy in his position would do, he creates his own school. 

Justin Long cracks me up, he just has this way about him that makes me laugh. Kind of like the way Dom DeLuise makes me want to eat pancakes, Justin makes me want to laugh.

I really think he is going to be a huge star. He has that same sense of humor as the Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, and Owen Wilson group. I think they’re referred to as the Frat Pack but I call them the Lifeguards (for no reason other than I think it’s a cool name for a hardass bunch of guys).

In fact, Justin was in ‘Dodgeball’ with Vince and Ben Stiller and he also played Fred Willard’s son in Anchorman but was cut from the final film. (He does pop up in ‘Wake Up Ron Burgundy,’ in probably the funniest scene from both films).

You’d probably recognize Justin from those clever Mac commercials or as the smarter than his years high school kid on the TV show ‘Ed.’  In both cases, as in all of Justin’s appearances, he is able to be very funny but still get across real emotions in any scene he acts in.

Remember how hard you were laughing in the Joanie loves Chachi scene from ‘Dodgeball’?  To quote my high school guidance counselor, “I really think this kid has a bright future”. The counselor was talking about Michael Shmelberg.  But what do I know?  I’m also predicting in 40 years we’ll see a new Congressman named Sean Preston Federline. Rather fitting since one of Justin’s first roles was as Britney Spears’ high school boyfriend in ‘Crossroads.’ 

What a great jumping off point, since you could never really get any lower.  That film did break new ground as far as special effects, it looked like Britney was actually really singing.

So even though it might be a slow time at the multiplex, I think Justin Long makes it worth checking out

‘Accepted,’ that is if I still cannot convince the Mrs. to see ‘Miami Vice.’