Old School

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Todd Phillips

February 13, 2003

After Mitch Martin (Luke Wilson) finds out about his girlfriend cheating on him his life goes into turmoil. He moves into a house on campus where his two best friends Beanie (Vince Vaughn) and Frank (Will Ferrell) decide to relive their younger lives. When the Dean (Jeremy Piven) informs the trio that the housing is reserved for students only, the group forms an unsanctioned fraternity and invites misfit college (and noncollege) pledges to join. When the college still tries to kick them out, the new fraternity will have to go old school if they want to keep their home.

What works very well in the film is the Vaughn, Wilson, and Ferrell combination. Vince Vaughn who stands at 6’5, is known for playing more commanding roles where he constantly barks orders at his friends who oblige more out of fear rather than respect. Luke Wilson takes the more passive/bland role in movies, where his job is to whine and complain about his friend’s misbehavior. And finally, Will Ferrell’s duty is to take off his shirt and act the part of a mid 40’s party animal. The point is the actors go together smoothly even in a movie that can’t find it’s groove.

The jokes in the comedy genre are always hit or miss, and even the best films have a four to one-fail to success ratio. For example, a fail is when a character finds out that not only did he sleep with an underage girl, but that girl is also his boss; or when an elderly man keels over and dies from the exciting sight of topless girls. There was one scene I recall that made me laugh out loud: after Mitch found out about his girlfriend inviting multiple sexual partners over for an orgy, he hears a knock at the door and upon opening the door, director Todd Phillips is on the other side and says “I’m here for the gang bang.” But all in all, it is comedic material that Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell throw themselves into and somehow make it work more times than it should.

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