Home of Phobia

Good watch, could watch again, and can recommend.

Sam Huntington, Marla Sokoloff, and Kaitlin Doubleday are all extremely underrated actors and do excellent jobs.

I'll give you that this premise is potentially problematic, but it does have a positive edge to it. What really holds the movie back (or forward for some) is how sociopathic the main character starts.

There has to be a low to grow from, but yeesh. It is a coming of age and self discovery story for about 6-20 people, depending on how you count, and there is a lot of good work that goes into balancing and keeping so many character plot lines to quality.

A couple of the characters literally stop to shake off how much is going on in the movie at certain points.

In the end, this is full of absurdist comedy with a sweet core.

i went expecting to see a really stupid teen comedy, and was a bit surprised, because it exceeded my expectations but in a good way. it really starts with all the clichés you can expect, but later develops into something really watchable and entertaining. after the first few minutes then i was ready to leave the cinema - i went to watch the movie at a free 'Advance Movie Screening' in Cinema Village and expected that it is a new movie, so after the first few minutes i thought 'why are they still making stupid movies like this? don't they think we had enough of this crap already'? but now that i see it was released in 2004, i'm kinda relieved :) so...after the first about 10 minutes, as the movie develops, i began to see some real story develop, with nice dialog, funny moments (even grossly funny, but hm...in a good way :)

actually - why am i writing such a long comment? 3 years after its release, there isn't a single comment on this movie here, and even at the free prescreening there were so few people....i actually intended to go see 'Lust, Caution', but apparently the interest there was huge...

but to get to my point - this is actually a good movie, you just need to give it a chance, and i believe you'd enjoy it

peace

A fair-to-middling low-budget comedy, "Freshman Orientation" has some good-natured fun lampooning the stereotypes and clichés of college life. Kewpie-faced Clay Adams is an undergrad frat pledge who pretends to be gay in order to snag the girl of his dreams. Just how this paradoxical turn-of-events comes about need not be reiterated here. Suffice it to say that it involves fraternity and sorority initiation pranks that wind up at cross purposes with one another.

Suffering from its own case of identity confusion, director Ryan Shiraki's screenplay reinforces stereotypes even as it's working hard to beat those stereotypes down. Gays, in particular, may find themselves evenly divided between encouragement and dismay over how they are portrayed in this film.

Still, there are enough moments of loopy charm to make the film worth seeing on a slow, rainy afternoon, and Sam Huntington and Kaitlin Doubleday have appeal and charisma to spare as Clay and his girl. And, as an added bonus, they are joined by John Goodman and Rachel Dratch in minor supporting roles.

Caught this movie on HERE! on Demand. What a nice surprise. Completely funny throughout, appealing characters, and interesting story. The premise revolves around a straight college guy who pretends to be gay to get closer to a girl he likes. This could have been another "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" which I found a bit offensive and patronizing. What's so refreshing about the film is that the film has a gay sensibility but does not try to preach gay acceptance. The characters are who they are. Sam Huntington as Clay was extremely appealing in the lead role. Lots of hilarious supporting characters too including Rachel Dratch as a very drunk, very old college student, and John Goodman who nailed it as a local bartender who teaches the lead character how to "be gay." Heather Matarazzo was a bit over the top as the New York Jewish girl but funny nonetheless. It's rare to find a movie that I have never heard of, yet enjoyed so much. I think whether gay or straight, if you are looking for a fun teen comedy, you will enjoy this film.

I saw this many years ago in the American Pie era and it was relatively funny. Not the greatest but it had it's moments and the classic 'Hit Me Baby One More Time scene"

In 2022 it hasn't aged well and can come across as a little offensive in terms of how far we've come with gay rights, I can understand if the LGBTQ community could be offended by this movie and the stereotypical tone of the movie.

I still enjoyed it on rewatching it but there were some 'ooh they didn't moments, especially in 2022.

It's a fairly low budget movie though they did manage to score a decent soundtrack and John Goodman. It's definitely of the teen gross out era which is no longer as funny as they used to be when the novelty wore off years ago.