A wise professor once told me that everything's been done; to achieve novelty and entertainment value one must do things differently. That's the approach National Lampoon's Van Wilder, which opens today, takes. And, for the most part, it succeeds.
Van Wilder is an unexpectedly truthful representation of today's college scene. Van Wilder, played by Canadian newcomer Ryan Reynolds, is a seventh year super senior at Coolidge College. When his millionaire dad decides to finally cut him off, Wilder decides it's time to get serious about graduating.
Despite his popularity, Wilder's completely out of cash, having spent it all on a personal assistant (Kal Penn's Taj) and furnishing his lavish dormitory with the help of roommate Hutch (The Real World's Teck Holmes). Long story short, with Teck and Taj's help, Wilder successfully markets his party-throwing abilities to the less popular groups on campus, earns enough cash to pay for his last semester as an undergraduate, and manages to land his rival's girl (Tara Reid's Gwen) in the process.
So you've never heard of anyone in this cast, except for Reid, whose uncanny ability to play raspy-voiced ditzes is losing its novelty fast, and Teck, who you hated on The Real World. Normally, that'd be a reason to worry, but everyone in Wilder actually pulls off his or her role brilliantly.
Though the character could spark protests from the more-PC, Penn's Taj is flat-out hilarious. Where were the international students in Animal House? Taj is an Indian national who comes to the US not only to be educated in the liberal arts, but also in "the great American art of muff diving!" Taj's constrained sexuality makes for many humorous outbursts, and some truly interesting situations. Wilder, seeing potential, immediately hires him as his own Personal Assistant. Taj helps Van run his party business, and Van helps Taj in other ways.
Reid turns in a convincing performance as an overachieving school paper reporter who's assigned to cover Wilder and his party business. Of course, she can't help falling for bad boy Van, but there's only one obstacle: her obsessive pre-med boyfriend, portrayed dead-on by Daniel Cosgrove. He's also the obnoxious president of the Delta Iota Kappa fraternity, known on campus as DIK.
The real star is, of course, Reynolds. Before Van Wilder, his resume consisted entirely of NBC's Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Shop and obscure Canadian sitcoms. That might change soon: he's an impressively adaptable actor who proves that he can convey more that one emotion, even while playing a rich kid/animal who cruises around campus in a personalized golf cart.
Reynolds even visited Boston during test screenings last month, proving himself a candid stand-up performer. He said Reid, though beautiful, was a "sniper's nightmare," and pointed out that "no animals were hurt in the making of this film, only pleasured."
On to the gags, then. Van Wilder manages to take every onscreen joke that's ever disgusted us and take it to a higher - or lower - level. American Pie's laxative joke is upstaged brilliantly. There's Something About Mary's then-provocative seminal humor (ha, ha) isn't even mildly disturbing compared to what happens in Wilder. And then there's conventional slapstick: enormously fat men in Speedos, ugly sorority girls wearing "DIK Supporter" T-shirts and walking into locker doors, and an entire elementary school class getting trashed at a sabotaged Wilder party.
Bottom line: Van Wilder is funny. Don't think of it as another Animal House, but as an appendix to the original. If you're in the mood for some silly humor you can relate to, you likely won't regret a trip to the cinema to see this one. Its humor is contagious, and as long as there are other college students in the theater, you'll be laughing.
