Overrated films part 17.

A good comedy is truly hard to find nowadays. If a year goes by with at least two relatively decent comedies being released audiences are thrilled. I'm no exception really. Like most everyone I enjoy a good laugh, but I find that more of the funny is brought to television rather than the silver screen.

It's gotten so bad that when a mediocre comedy is released it gets hailed as brilliant. There never has been a better example of that than Old School. Sure the first 30 minutes were hilarious, but after the infamous Will Ferrell streaking scene the movie drags into mildly amusing jokes to rather long and dull sequences.

You've all seen the film so I won't even bother with a synopsis. It tries to be a classic in the stale genre of college comedies, but Animal House it isn't. It's a good movie in it's own right, but ask anyone of my generation and they'll quote it endlessly like it was Office Space or Swingers, both of which are far superior films. Old School was refreshing given that the genre of leave your brain-at-the-door honest laugh fests is slim; however the film as a whole can be a chore to sit through.

Sadly the same phenomena occurred with another Wilson brother/Vince Vaughn film a few years later, but I'll save that for another post.

"At its best, it's a hilarious celebration of the party-animal id that's always at odds with the Apollonian superego of the house payment and 401(k). But like our own wild nights of pouring liquid soap into the fountain, it's just as easily forgotten." - Jonathan R. Perry