(rated R, 90 mins.)
Artisan Entertainment knows their cult films. Like “Blair Witch”, this year’s “Van Wilder” is this century’s “Animal House”. Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds) runs Coolidge College much like Tim Matheson ran Animal House in the 70’s. As a matter of fact, Matheson appears as Van Wilder Sr. tired of paying ten years tuition to a son whose attitude is “why graduate? Celebrate”. But when daddy stops the money flow, Wilder must come up with a plan to pay his own tuition. With the help of his roommate Hutch (Teck Holmes) he concocts schemes including “topless tutors” or helping nerds with combined GPA’s of 52,000 get laid. Wilder catches lots of campus attention especially from local reporter Gwen (Tara Reid), assigned to follow the party liaison around campus. This is fine until he falls for her thus upsetting her pre-med-high-brow-nosebleed boyfriend of Delphi house, Richard (Daniel Cosgrove). That’s when the insanity really gets wild but at the same time teaches Wilder a lesson that it’s ok to finally grow up. Reynolds is energized as the lead keeping the movie together with one gag after another but also managing to have some underdog heart. Kids will love this movie while parents will be stunned as the antics make “Animal House” look like Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Much like this generation only sees “Jaws” as a foolish mechanical shark we’re the generation that kept out of the water.
