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Released by: Paramount
Released on: 7/14/2009
Director: Harv Glazer
Cast: Jonathan Bennett, Linden Ashby, Kurt Fuller, Steve Talley, Nestor Aaron Absera, Jerry Shea, Kristen Cavallari
Year: 2009
The Movie:
Did the world need another Van Wilder movie? No. It most certainly did not, but it's here anyway with the latest entry, Van Wilder: Freshman Year, which is actually a prequel of sorts to the first movie where we meet a Van Wilder who spent ten years in college. If the title didn't give it away, this movie let's us in on how it all began.
After getting a blowjob while delivering his high school valedictorian speech, Van Wilder (Jonathan Bennett) heads to Amsterdam for the summer but soon returns to start his first year at Coolidge College, the school where his father (Linden Ashby) got his education, as did his father before him. While Coolidge was rated the #1 party school in 1979, things have taken a very sour turn as of late and Van's upset to find out that his new home away from home is literally a party free zone. After knocking down the wall in his dorm room to open things up a bit, he and his roommate, a white pothead/rasta kid named Farley Marley (Nestor Aaron Absera) decide to go against the grain and hold a bash anyway. Van's quest to bring the party spirit back to the school winds him in hot water with the Dean (Kurt Fuller) but this doesn't stop him from falling in love with Kaitlyn (Kristen Cavallari), the girl friend of the local neo-nazi, Dirk (Steve Talley). Oh and he hangs out with an Asian dude named Yu Dum Fuk (Jerry Shea). Get it? Pretty funny, huh?
The fact that the National Lampoon logo doesn't appear anywhere on the packaging (as it did with the first two) should serve as a warning to those setting out in hopes of finding the funny. What starts off as a stereotypical Animal House rip off looses its limp focus half way through and actually ventures head first into romantic comedy territory as Van's pursuit of the comely Kaitlyn becomes the focus of the film and overshadows the crass humor that the film starts off with. There are raunchier bits and pieces thrown in throughout the later parts of the film but really, this is just a chick flick with some exposed titties and a recurring joke based around a dog with big gonads and these two qualities don't really work so well together.
Performance wise, Jonathan Bennet is a tolerable if uninspired stand in for Ryan Reynolds (the first to play the character in the original film) but no one else is really given much to do outside of milk their characters' racial and ethnic stereotypes. Farley Marley is completely obnoxious and the rest of the cast fare only slightly better. Some pretty naked girls add some necessary eye candy, the film's only bright spot, but the raunchy bits are so out there and over the top that they fail to actually make you laugh as they're just completely removed from the realm of possibility.
So yeah, this just isn't funny. At all. It's not funny, it's not interesting, it's not well made, it's not unique or inspired or even a good rip off of a better movie, it's just lame.
Video/Audio/Extras:
The movie looks good in this 1.78.1 anamorphic widescreen presentation that features nice color reproduction and a fair bit of detail in the foreground and the background of the image at all times. There's a bit of edge enhancement and at times just a little bit more grain than you might expect to see but there aren't any problems with mpeg compression artifacts or heavy edge enhancement. Skin tones look lifelike and natural and overall the image is pretty decent on this DVD.
The English language Dolby Digital 5.1 track is of fairly decent quality. The levels are well balanced and there aren't any problems with hiss or distortion to complain about. Dialogue comes through clearly at all times and the score and sound effects are mixed in with the appropriate amount of punch though almost everything comes at you from the front of the sound mix and the surrounds are used only sparingly to spread out the music and throw in an odd sound effect or two. Optional subtitles are provided in English, French and Spanish.
The extras start off with an audio commentary courtesy of director Harv Glazer who is joined by pretty much all of the key cast members. In keeping with the spirit of the movie at hand, this track is full of goofy humor and a lot of joking around. There isn't a ton of information in here though they do manage to sneak in a few production stories for anyone who cares.
From there we move on to the featurettes starting with Creating the Legend: The Making of Van Wilder: Freshman Year which is a seventeen minutes segment that includes cast and crew interviews and a lot of talking head bits that all sound fairly self serving and promotional. Equally unimpressive is Going Balls Out: Colossus, a three minute segment that shows us what it was like working with the well the dog that appears in the movie with huge balls. The Coolidge College Orientation Video is just over three more minutes of a faux college orientation bit while the nine minute Decatur is simply a spot that catches up with the cast members while they're on set as the film is shooting in Georgia. Teacher's Pets is an all too short two minute segment that looks, rather leeringly, at the girls who appear throughout the film while Van's Party Supplies is a four minutes piece that examines the sex toys that Van shows off in the movie (seriously). Pranks 101 is four minutes clip of people playing pranks on one another and the seven minute blooper reel is a collection of flubs and screw ups saved from the cutting room floor for your enjoyment.
Rounding out the extras are a few trailers for other DVD releases, animated menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
While Paramount has done a nice job on the A/V, this movie is terrible in almost every possible way.