Dean Slater: Resident Advisor

Movies about the American college experience are silly, and this raises the bar. The reality of the American college environment is unreal, and so any comedy flick on the subject is by nature exploitative. Which reminds me to write that screenplay on my very real college experience that laid the groundwork for the next 20 years of my life.

The bottom line: this is an incredibly silly movie specific to California college life. It is not particularly awful and has some poignant and well thought out comedic moments. It has, as a major theme, the abuse of social media, which, given the sorry state of American culture these days - with people sharing a meal paying more attention to their cell phones than their company - is a real concern. This B-Grade flick makes the unpopular argument that the pervasiveness of social media is excessive, and that we we need to find a balance.

"Are you Amish?"

I did the 3 day rental on Amazon, and watched it over and over again! Loved the cast, the film work, the directing, and of course the kendamas! Colin Sander did an amazing job directing the movie, and I would highly recommend any of his works! I am definitely suggesting watching it and purchasing it too if you watch movies often! It has everything that you'd want in a college comedy film. There are life lessons to be learned from watching this, stories to be shared, and even ways to relate to the movie. Like stated previously in another review, after watching this movie, you indeed may not feel the same afterwards.

Though I be just an Englishman even I can relate with the wit and humour of a gorgeous US movie such as this. Well where do I start fresh from VGHS Jimmy Wong is delightful albeit he may be the only actor except Nathalie Ramos in this movie I knew of and Nathalie Ramos is again amazing in this movie. Moving from House of Anubis which was dark(ish) albeit cheesy as anybody's business to a full out college humour the transition was seamless. It could of gone with the norm of college/teenagers coming out movies but no it went with a kick ass RA and some lines that though were cliché had a charm to them. It has also managed to add in a kendama and well any movie that introduces and addicts me to a sport like this has to be worth a watch right

I have been a fan of Nathalia Ramos' for a few years now and when I heard her new movie, Dean Slater, was being released I thought I would at least look it up and see what it was. I then found that it was a direct-to-video release and I had my doubts. Regardless I paid the $3.99 on iTunes and rented it. Like my title suggests, it was not what I expected. I half-expected a cheap budget, weak acting, and a horrendous, stupid plot. I was actually surprised to find that I enjoyed the movie. True it is not Citizen Kane by any stretch nor a Mel Brooks or Monty Python comedy. It seems to be a take on the eighties movies that I grew up. The humor is basically sophomoric (of course there's farting and a guy who likes to urinate), but hey I enjoy that style sometimes. The story itself centers around three college freshmen and their replacement RA, the mysterious and banished former SCSU student Dean Slater. Dean is to them, their guru who teaches them to experience college and life in general. Being one who doesn't actually own a cell phone I agreed with most of what they had to say. Yes, the plot actually had something to say. Not always well, but it did have a moral. The acting was for the most part pretty good, and the scenes didn't looked slapped together. The writing was okay, some of it seemed forced, and I will admit some dialogue just seemed stupid to me. Not funny stupid, just not needed. That and it seemed the three writers tried a little too hard to fit in too many things plot-wise in the allotted 83 minutes. Plus there were a few things missing that could have been explained. Overall, though I still found myself enjoying the movie. Something I find not that often with today's movies. If you're looking for something intelligent with a deep message, don't bother. If you're looking for something silly, to entertain you for a short time I would suggest this. Heck, you could do worse.

Hearkening back to the 80's college comedy aesthetic this movie tackles the modern dilemma of social media vs. real world interaction. Set at the fictitious Southern California State University the movie follows three freshmen boys who, struggling to overcome their high school identities, find guidance from a long-lost alum standing in as their resident adviser.

On screen you see a lot of pretty young faces and bodies (a couple of the actors are of Disney and Nickelodean pedigree) and a surprisingly diverse assortment of locations from desert to campus to beach to an elaborate data-network center.

Things begin with the usual college antics...partying and partying then paying the price. This all comes with some laughs. A lot of the gags are of the gross out variety and I have to say that despite myself I was laughing out loud at some of the absurd potty humor (particularly a case of drunken toilet bowl mix-up).

There is a love story or two for the hopeless romantics but the emotions seem to take back seat to silliness as the story moves forward towards it's internet defying climax.

The acting is all good enough with the one stand out being Mitchel Jarvis of "Keith Stone" infamy who plays the pseudo-lead Dean Slater. Jarvis brings some real gusto to his scenes with a mix of Gene Wilder Willy Wonka and Johny Depp Jack Sparrow making for a strangely transfixing character.

With their coincidentally freshman effort, Colin Sander (writer, director) and Christian Sander (writer, producer) have made a movie with all the signs of a young and enthusiastic cast and crew having fun and learning as they go along. There are plenty of little things to criticize with the story and structure, but with this kind of movie it's really not worth getting worked up over. Delivering a good dose of laughs and surprises this is worth the rental fee.

P.S. The credit sequence (though perhaps coming in a little late) is fantastic. I hope to see more of that creativity in the next Sander Bro's collaboration.