Great Times at the University

Darkmoon's Rants #60

I like movies that take place in college. I identify with the characters, normally, plus, I kinda miss college. College was fun, and fairly low-stress when compared to the real world. Lacking anything better to write about right now, here are some great college-based movies:

PCU

A classic of the genre, it was amusingly, far as I know, Jeremy Piven's only leading role. Considering that it's a cult favorite and not a smash-success, we can all understand why. The basic rundown is a s such: Port Chester University has a major stick up it's ass. It's a very PC minded school, with everyone there all worried about one issue or another... except for the member's of the Pit, a frat-like party house. Viewed through the eyes of a pre-freshmen, we get to see a day in the life of the pit as they try to save their frat.

There is the occasional cheese factor in the movie. Some of the jokes don't really play very well and so forth. But the movie is powered by Piven. Like Ferris Beuhller, Piven's character is a slick-fixer type. He always has a solution to a problem, and is always looking for the fun in life. He makes the movie great to watch.

National Lampoon's Van Wilder

I know some would argue that Animal House should be up instead of this flick, but I think this movie is the better of the two. The character of Van is more likable than any of the characters in Animal House, which is in part to the performance of Ryan Reynolds. He sells the character, makes what could have been an ass in other people's hands rather endearing.

The plot is nothing to write home about. Van is a fixer type of character, and he's been in school for years. He likes it there. But his dad is less appreciative of the time Van has spent in college, as well as the money for tuition. So, when the money is cut-off, Van has to find some other way to pay the bills and stay in school. So we get treated to a variety of weird schemes... Pretty funny stuff actually. There's a love story and other stuff... but eh, go see it for Van!

I had more movies to cover when I started this... but as always, I've forgotten them. Ah well...