Van Wilder 3: La Première Année de Fac

How do you judge a Hollywood movie? You could review a film from a classical perspective in terms of direction, acting, cinematography, story, and impact. Or, sometimes, you can judge whether a film achieves what it is wanted to be, even when that may be groveling to the lowest beast. On the latter score, I rate this movie as watchable.

I sat down with this film for something totally different from what I usually watch, and it was definitely different. Cheap sexual arousal, slap stick jokes, crudity, all in a revenge of the nerds schtick is the score du jour. But, within all that groveling to the lowest denominator, it delivers with an underlying, although trite, message. Bennett is interesting in his best Jim Carrey impersonation, and the rest of the cast plays along to his lead. Fuller is a delightful Dean Wormer. In fact, so much of the writing is pulled from Animal House, it sometimes feels like a cheap rip-off. But ultimately the movie finds its own feet and passes some time without feeling cheated.