National Lampoon's Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds, Tara Reid) 1/2
I haven't yet had the dubious pleasure of seeing American Pie, American Pie 2, Slackers, Not Another Teen Movie, Tomcats, Sorority Boys, Freddie Got Fingered, Scary Movie, Scary Movie 2 or Saving Silverman. I say this up front because I want to explain that I have managed to avoid the gross-out frat comedies that have inundated theatres over the past two years. Until now.
National Lampoon's Van Wilder wallows in its own depravity much like a pig wallows in slop and filth. You'd think that would make for a movie with nary a laugh to be found, but here comes the big confession from the Jaybird: I did laugh. I laughed a lot. And while it isn't even a comedy worth recommending to others, I have to give it full marks for mostly managing to avoid a lot of those obligatory cornball sequences by pushing them to near the end of the picture (the misunderstanding between the Guy and the Girl that almost causes them not to get together, the one-last-push-to-succeed montage by the Hero, the reconciliation between the Disappointed Father and the Proscrastinating Son, etc.). I guess when your expectations are really low, you find the unexpectedly funny parts all the more gratifying.
Ryan Reynolds is the title character, a returning student (of seven years) at Coolidge College. Van Wilder practically owns the campus -- he putts around on his alarm-rigged golf cart and has to hire an assistant (Kal Penn) just to help him plan his extensive extra-curricular activities. Wilder is the subject of a feature to be written by aspiring journalist Gwen (Tara Reid), whose current boyfriend (Daniel Cosgrove) begins to grow jealous of their budding friendship. Of course Gwen's boyfriend plots a scheme against Wilder, and of course he gets his come-uppance for it. What most people probably won't suspect is the shocking manner in which revenge is exacted on the boyfriend, in a trashcan scene that had the entire audience squirming because it was the second most revolting moment in the film. The first, however, involved canine fluids being injected into pastries, then lustily ingested by the hapless victim.
As a movie, Van Wilder defames almost every category you can imagine. In between its sexist and racist moments, it manages to also target deaf people, the elderly, and obese people among countless others. It's directed by Walt Becker (not that that matters), and I actually enjoyed the performances by Reynolds, who certainly proves himself able to mimick Chevy Chase's facial mannerisms, and Reid, whose comic timing managed to hit the target on several occasions. I'll never say this is a good film, but I liked some of the gags. If the filmmakers market the movie as a gross-out comedy and they can get an entire theatre filled with people to groan simultaneously in disgust, haven't they achieved their goal?
