Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland

Blue Mountain State was a series that was absolutely hilarious, celebrating the college campus drinking culture of many US establishments of higher education, bro culture, near complete disregard of women beyond their physical attributes and despite purportedly being about a football team a single game was seen across 3 complete series. Backed up by a cast of 1 dimensional characters the TV show BMS was a hedonistic feast for male 13-20 something viewers everywhere.

The Rise of Thadland however did not capture this same magic in any respect. Although featuring that same cast of characters they seem slightly out of place in this new feature, hollow renditions of previously well loved caricatures. The plot of the film is simple enough and totally predictable in as many aspects of a traditional BMS episode. However where the TV show's plot lines were funny the film's felt as though a single BMS episode had been stretched to the 90 minute mark. Unfortunately such stretching left the film mostly mirthless and in many respects just plain sad as there weren't enough jokes to go around despite some brief moments of hilarity.

Overall I give credit to the showrunners in trying to milk what was a very entertaining golden calf. However they ended up merely flogging a dead horse.

A Little Out There, A Lot of Chaos, But Still Got That BMS Heart

Let's not pretend it lived up to the show - because it didn't. Rise of Thadland is what happens when you let the party run a little too long and the keg's been tapped one too many times. It's over-the-top, self-aware, and completely unhinged - which is BMS, to be fair. But the difference here? It starts to feel like a parody of itself instead of the cult classic that earned its name.

What Worked Thad Castle (Alan Ritchson) is still an unstoppable force of absurdity. He is the movie, and without him, this whole thing would collapse like a beer pong table under a linebacker.

Moments of nostalgia hit right - especially if you were ride-or-die for the show. The characters still have chemistry, and when the jokes land, they really land.

The party scenes were turned up to 1000 - wild, ridiculous, and basically a fever dream with glitter and steroids.

What Fell Flat The plot? Barely there. It's a vibe more than a story.

Too many gags pushed the envelope without a real payoff. It was chaos without the clever.

Missed that balance the show had - where the insanity still had some kind of anchor. This one drifted a bit too far off the rails.

Bottom Line

It's not terrible. It's just not Blue Mountain State at its best. Think of it like that one last round at the bar you probably didn't need - fun in the moment, but not something you'd call a classic the next day.

Still good. Still got laughs.

But the original series? That was legendary.

This never seemed possible, but The Rise of Thadland is an even worse comedy than The Hangover Part II. It is raunchy only for the sake of trying to be funny, it is disgusting only for the sake of attempting to create shock humor, and there just simply isn't the energy in this movie which the television show had to offer.

The premise is so straightforward and simple that it gets to be a bore right after Thadland actually becomes a thing. Moran needs to win over Thad for him to buy the goathouse so it doesn't get taken away for them. Thad's request is simple: throw an awesome party for him and he'll put up enough money to win the goathouse over in the auction. The bulk of the movie is this party Moran agrees to throw, making most of the humor in the movie drug-related. We watch people trip out on drugs for the comedy, which ends up being a bore and not funny at all. Also, it is clear which part of the movie has an extended nc-17 clip in the bonus features, and it is too disgusting to imagine how the nc-17 version would have looked and not funny at all.

Of course Alan Ritchson as Thad shines as the star of the movie, though he is not the protagonist. He delivers the same goof ball we are all fond of in the television show, but the script just didn't allow him to shine AS MUCH as he did in the television series. The best moments focus around him, but sadly there are less than a handful of these moments.

There is no way that anything released in 2016 will be as terrible as this film.

1.0/4.0

The intro of the movie is great and starts really strong, but as soon as it's over the 'new' BMS is shown. Different goat house and different uniforms for both the football players and cheerleaders. Something that is definitely going to disappoint the fans and hardcore viewers, right in the beginning.

The first forty minutes of the movie will feel different but will stay true to the series. At this point is arguably the 'peak' of the movie, the conversation between Donnie and Mary Jo. This is truly the only part something new comes up and the only one with little taste of character development, for the whole movie (One of the biggest issues).

Then, there's a hilarious scene with Alex Moran and Mary Jo, but afterwards is mostly comedy for the sake of comedy. Characters go off character and the movie stop feeling like the series and it becomes almost boring, but it's still enjoyable.

The movie certainty doesn't live to series expectations, the jokes aren't as funny and the movie fails to capture the immersion of the series. The movie is not bad, if you enjoyed the series this is a must watch, but don't expect any closure or story follow up from the series (Thad's NFL story line is just too flat, little is shown and it doesn't work well).

This movie is pretty much just a reunion with a big party, and that is very well delivered. If you watch BMS for the parties, boobies and drugs, this movie will be perfect for you.

I never even knew this existed - though to be fair now with the Reacher tv show it does make sense to bring this back to those who missed out on this. So as you can tell I have never seen the tv show, but since this was part of a deal with the streaming service I opted to watch it. And I'm fairly certain this works well even without having seen the show. Although I guess I would have been more in the know if I had.

Whatever you think of the man or the G. O. A. T (pun intended, you know if you've seen it) - the humor is quite gross at places to say the least. Now you either stoop down to that level and get jiggy with it or you will hate this and be annoyed by it. But the actors are really good in it. They really just let themselves lose and roll with the flow. I mean acting the way they do ... just plain crazy. There are more than a few cringe worthy moments and even "hotter" moments are intercut with something completely ridiculous. So while any of the females (and a few of the males) would be able to attend a model/walkway event, this is not meant to titilate you as much. And don't expect too much in the nudity department. There is a bit - no pun intended, especially to the one male nude scene. I might even watch the tv show one day ... why not? Even if I was never in a fraternity and I don't believe this would be something I could do. It's just a movie, right? Never forget that.