Movie Title: Old School
Writer: Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong
Starring: Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Perrey Reeves, Craig Kilborn, Elisha Cuthbert, Seann William Scott, Patrick J. Adams, Matt Walsh, Artie Lange, Bryan Callen, James Carville, Snoop Dogg, Warren G, Bishop Don Magic Juan, Patrick Cranshaw, Jerod Mixon, Rick Gonzalez, Simon Helberg, Eddie Pepitone, Rob Corddry, Andy Dick, Terry O'Quinn
Review: A wise man named Mitch once said, "True love is hard to find, sometimes you think you have true love and then you catch the early flight home from San Diego and a couple of nude people jump out of your bathroom blindfolded like it's a magic show..." This particular event Mitch (Luke Wilson) was speaking of lead him to reevaluate his life and with the help of his supportive friends, Beanie (Vince Vaughn) and Frank "The Tank" (Will Ferrell), they created a fraternity that would ultimately bring them joy and give nothing back to the community because that's Old School!
Old School is a movie that I revisit at least once a year and it gets funnier every single time I watch! It's effortlessly funny. From Vince Vaughn's fast-talking soccer dad to Will Ferrell's streaking through the quad up to the gymnasium, you'd be hard-pressed to find a funnier flick in the last two decades.
This is a comedy that's hilarious from start to finish, and still holds up! It has so many jokes, visual gags, and quotable lines, coming at you that you hardly have time to catch your breath from laughing. This is both its strength and its weakness. I'll explain...
The movie is so ridiculously funny that you're entertained for the entire runtime, but the laughs distract you from a shoehorned subplot and characters that don't really get paid off or matter to the overall fun that comes with the essential story of three buddies trying to relive their glory days by creating their own distinct frat that would certainly put all other frats to shame. If the movie was just the frat and their hijinks, then it would be solid gold! I know in my funny bone that Old School is comedy classic, it's just not a very good movie, but I love it anyway!
The scene of Will Ferrell's Frank shooting himself in the neck with a tranquilizer dart and then ruining a kid's birthday party is one of the funniest scenes I think I've ever watched. I'm laughing just thinking about it! I'd go on, but I don't want to spoil the out-of-control nature of this laugh-out-loud comedy. If you haven't seen it, want to belly-laugh, or are curious what Will Ferrell keister looks like, then you must watch. You won't be sorry.
When you need a good laugh and you're in the mood for rude, raunchy, and outrageous humor then start pledging to the Godfather, and his brothers, for the best kind of school - Old School! "Blue, you're my boy!"
Fun Fact: Frank's streaking scene was shot on a city street. As Will Ferrell remembered it, one of the storefronts was a twenty-four-hour gym with Stairmasters and treadmills in the window. "I was rehearsing in a robe, and all these people are in the gym, watching me. I asked one of the production assistants, 'Shouldn't we tell them I'm going to be naked?' Sure enough, I dropped my robe and there were shrieks of pure horror. After the first take, nobody was at the window anymore. I took that as a sign of approval."