College (R)
Crude, boorish comedy doesn't make the grade.
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Movie details
- Studio: Element Films
- Directed By: Deb Hagan
- Cast: Drake Bell, Andrew Caldwell, Kevin Covais
- Running Time: 94 minutes
- Release Date: 8/29/2008
- Video/DVD Release Date: 12/31/1969
- Genre: Comedy
- MPAA Rating: R
- MPAA Explanation: pervasive crude and sexual content, nudity, language, drug and alcohol abuse.
Parents need to know
Parents need to know that this crude comedy -- which may be on older tweens' and younger teens' radar thanks to star Drake Bell of hit TV show Drake & Josh -- is a non-stop parade of boorish behavior, inebriation, and sex. Young men obsess about sex and ogle women (who mostly come across as window dressing). There's plenty of nudity -- big-breasted women (some in pasties) and men's behinds -- as well as crude sexual jokes (topics include sex toys and masturbation) and tons of swearing. Drinking seems to be the only thing there is to do at universities; underage characters swill alcohol constantly, and one character praises a girl by saying she "drinks like a college girl." Characters also smoke weed and inhale nitrous oxide.
Families can talk about who this film is targeted at. Who do you think the filmmakers' ideal audience is? Why are sex- and swearing-filled movies so popular? Do you find this kind of humor funny or offensive? Why? Families can also discuss how the movie portrays women. Are the female characters stereotypical? In what ways? And do you think this is an accurate depiction of college life? How have other movies and TV Shows portrayed college in the past? How does this one compare?
Families can talk about who this film is targeted at. Who do you think the filmmakers' ideal audience is? Why are sex- and swearing-filled movies so popular? Do you find this kind of humor funny or offensive? Why? Families can also discuss how the movie portrays women. Are the female characters stereotypical? In what ways? And do you think this is an accurate depiction of college life? How have other movies and TV Shows portrayed college in the past? How does this one compare?
Message
Social Behavior:
Teens lie their way into a party- and sex-filled weekend. It's outright bacchanalia: Men and women hook up at the drop of a hat, with both opposite and same-sex partners. Some homophobic jokes, as well as sexist ones.
Consumerism:
Some signage for the university, cereal boxes, and a few other products, but nothing too excessive.
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Plenty of drinking and some drug use. Drinking is portrayed as cool and perhaps even a way to be popular. Keggers are the raison d'etre here, and underage kids are shown imbibing in many different ways (playing "quarters" beer bongs, etc.). Lots of depictions of various stages of inebriation. Some characters openly smoke weed, and both teens and adults get high inhaling nitrous oxide balloons.
Violence
Fraternity brothers haze newcomers by slapping them, hitting them, shooting at them with paintball guns, humiliating them verbally and physically, throwing them into pig excrement, and forcing them into strange sexual situations. Some screaming among friends.
Sex
Plenty of randy content, including lesbian hookups, topless girls on parade (only sometimes wearing pasties), hand gestures signaling masturbation, men shown pleasuring themselves under covers, quick cuts to a man enjoying a blow-up doll, couples simulating sex, deep kisses, oral sex referenced through body movements, strippers, and more.
Language
Four-letter words galore, including "d-ck," "s--t," "f--k," and multiple variations on them. Also lots of use of "bitch" and "ass."
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by S. Jhoanna Robledo
Kevin Brewer (Drake Bell) is a straight-arrow high school senior who gets dumped by his excitement-seeking girlfriend. So when a classmate regales Kevin and his friends -- loudmouth Carter (Andrew Caldwell) and geeky Morris (Kevin Covais, of American Idol fame) -- with tales of a wild weekend at Fieldmont University, he decides it's the perfect opportunity to let loose, too, and perhaps make his ex jealous. Never mind that they're supposed to be touring the college for educational purposes, and that Morris is due for an interview with the dean so he can seal a scholarship offer.
Is it any good?
Make no mistake: The charming stars of Nickelodeon's beloved Drake & Josh are both clearly trying to shirk their wholesome alter-egos. But at least Josh Peck took on the intriguing (if flawed) indie The Wackness. Bell, on the other hand, is stuck in this crude morass. Obnoxious to the core, COLLEGE is a medley of cliches about university life. There's the evil fraternity president and his equally loathsome buddies who abuse the three friends beyond belief (their methods include making the guys clean feces-encrusted toilets; forcing them to drink shots from a hairy, naked, fraternity brother; taping one of them naked to a statue; throwing them nearly naked into a sty soon to be invaded by stampeding pigs; and much more). There's the trio of ladies who see past the guys' gawky high-schoolness and desperate need to fit in and fall in love with them. And there's the pivotal moment when they exact vengeance. (Wasn't there a movie about this already called Revenge of the Nerds?)
All of that said, the three leads are amiable enough, especially Bell, who has an ease about him that has always worked for his characters. Covais (dubbed Chicken Little in his Idol run) is surprisingly deft. And though Caldwell sometimes overdoes his schtick -- he's clearly (and often painfully) doing an imitation of Jack Black or Chris Farley -- the guy does have a way with the punchlines. But the actors all deserve a better movie, one that doesn't rely on tired shorthand to capture the insanity -- not inanity -- of college life.
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