After the huge success of Animal House in 1978, Hollywood has "blessed" us with all of the tired sex joke comedies year after year. First came the occasionally funny Porkys then the surprisingly good Police Academy and a string of duds that I don't care to remember. Since the sometimes talented Will Farrell has starred in some of the worst movies ever made, it was no surprise that Old School should have been as equally unfunny.
Will, I TAKE IT BACK! I came into the theater expecting a disappointment, and found myself laughing all the way through it and Farrell gives a performance that would almost equal that of the late John Belushi (of whom there was nobody better).
Mitch (Luke Wilson) returns home to discover his girlfriend in the middle of a threesome. Realizing that her excuses are like a butt (everybody's got one) he almost buys into her lies until a knock at the door from a gentleman (no, not a Jehovah's Witness or Mormom) announces that he is hear for the gang bang.
Meanwhile Will Farrell (Frank Richard) is getting married despite warnings at the alter from Vince Vaughn who whispers "this is the last vagina for the rest of your life." This leads some very funny moments in particular the wedding singer who at the reception has his own version of a famous love song.
Mitch eventually moves into a house on a college dorm and funny guy Vaughn (Bernard Campbell) shows his friendship by throwing a party to "ease the pain" of his failed relationship. Frank assures his wife that he will behave and that lasts about 1 minute after he arrives.
The next morning, the dean (four eyed geek Jeremy Piven) cocks up an idea to have them kicked off campus unless they are able to form an actual fraternity. While the idea seems impossible, the Three Stooges find a way to pull it off.
One of the nice things in a movie is to see the co-star provide most of the laughs like Steve Martin did in Little Shop Of Horrors and Kevin Kline In A Fish Called Wanda. While Farrell is billed third on the credits, he is the star. This is not an exaggeration especially when Farell shoots himself in the neck with a tranquilizer and the rest, you just have to see. Even critic Roger Ebert (who awarded the film one star) admitted that Will Farrell had some nice scenes.
Like all comedies, the laughs aren't always there but there are a lot of them in Old School that makes you just want to stand up and yell, "lets party"!
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