Parents' Guide to College

Obnoxious to the core, COLLEGE is a medley of cliches about university life. 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. The cliches begin with 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). Then 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.