Uma Vida de Louco

It would be hard to come up with a more innocuous film than this one (unless it were animated!) Inspired (somewhat) by a true story, it concerns Arizona State college student Dye trying to miraculously come up with $10,000 worth of tuition money in 30 days. Fortunately, for him, his roommate and long time friend (Lyon) is chin-on-the-floor attractive and is the star diver, complete with a rippled, sculpted body. He decides to create a pin-up calendar for women, featuring men from all the sports at ASU. However, he faces a few hurdles along the way, not the least of which is placating the mysterious man (O'Keefe) who lent him the start-up money. Meanwhile, magazine editor Fairchild has her eye on Lyon for her own reasons (surprisingly non-sexual ones!) The whole film is accented by a bouncy '80's soundtrack and a parade of atrocious, but fun clothes and hairdo's. Dye (who would later make a splash on "Touched By an Angel") is basically a poor man's Andrew McCarthy throughout, but has a few decent moments. Lyon is breathlessly pretty, but hopelessly bland. He often resembles a pumped-up James Van Der Beek. Wilhoite turns in her standard reliable, quirky performance. Delaney is called upon to do very little except be nice. Fairchild is expectedly campy, but surprisingly less bitchy than she's usually called on to be. She's a whirlwind of huge hair, ugly pastel make-up and monstrous, shoulder-padded get-ups. The film is very trite, pat and simple, but does manage to pull off a surprise or two. Much of the dialogue is rotten, though. The beefcake factor is mostly completed by Lyon who is frequently shown diving in his teensy swimsuit (the front of which is also coyly edited out or cropped out much of the time.) There is a montage of "hunky" (mostly moussed and pretty) models posing hilariously for the calendar and a shower sequence that shows the butts of two men that no one cares about. No one should be offended by anything in this movie, but also not very many people will be glued to the screen. It's very light, very good-natured and eventually, pretty forgettable.

"Campus Man" isn't quite sure what kind of a movie it wants to be. It appears to be a comedy at first glance but that is rather deceiving. In fact, it would've played a lot better if it had been more serious in tone. The "funny" parts are typical 80's cheesiness and aren't very witty. The plot involves an Arizona State University student who owes $10,000 in tuition and has 30 days to come up with it. He decides to produce a male athlete calendar in order to try and make enough money to pay his tuition and hopefully have some left over. Of course, things don't go exactly as planned and trouble ensues. Uneasy mix of comedy with some serious issues makes "Campus Man" an uneven disappointment. A harmless time filler, however, if you can catch it on TV. 3/10

Todd Headlee, while still an A.S.U. student, created the first beefcake calender and it was a hit. Naturally, such a world shaking event cried out for a big screen epic... and here you are. This badly directed, written and scored little feature is useful only as a time capsule for awful eighties clothing and hair styles. The only other thing you can give this dull little caper is that it consistently avoids all the usual exploitative sleaze of campus comedies. It isn't clever or particularly funny, but it also isn't stripping down the women in the cast (and there are some pretty girls evident throughout) and there's no slobbering fat guy tossed in for comic "relief." No raunch, no swearing, no over-the-top sitcom acting, no crotch-smacking slapstick, no flatulence, no vomiting... it's positively the cleanest campus comedy ever made. Too bad it's also so trivial and innocuous. It does have a standout feature in Miles O'Keeffe as Cactus Jack. He almost lifts the film out of it's general lifelessness. He's so ruggedly handsome that it's almost supernatural and his character is like some amalgam of Clint Eastwood and the Marlboro Man. Otherwise, it's pretty slim stuff based on a pretty slim premise.

I had passed Campus Man many times in the shop. Let's face it - it does scream 80's. I had picked it up an thought "Well this look cheesey". It wasn't until I took an interest in one of the Actors that I started to look for the movie to watch. And was surprised by what I found.

Ok it is a very 80's movie, the clothes and hair alone dictates that. But from the decade of overspending and businessmen flying by the seat of their pants, I feel that if this movie had been marketed better, or perhaps caught a slightly different wave it could have been up there with the Yuppie success of "Secret of My Success".

It is well acted by all, with most note going to John Dye and Kathleen Wilhoite as Todd and Molly.

Some of the plot points are a little under developed, where did this anamosity between Molly and Todd come from, Brett makes mention of Todd getting him into Diving, but doesn't eleborate.

All in all I enjoyed it. It could have been much worse. Considering Todays fare of Van Wilder; Party Liasion, it stands up rather well.

If you were in college in the late 80's, you should appreciate this film. Plus Kim Delaney is hot. Great tunes, great clothes, wonderful haircuts, big hair for the gals. God I miss those days.

Yeah, it was cheesy, yeah it was a stupid plot, but that's what the 80's was all about.

Partying, good tunes, no political correctness, great movies.

Who else wishes they had a time machine????

The Brat pack.

Miami Vice

Need I say more