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Old School (2003) DVD Review
Old School (2003) DVD Credits:
Old School (2003) Directed by:
Todd Phillips
Old School (2003) Written by:
Scot Armstrong, Todd Phillips, Court Crandall
Old School (2003) Cast:
Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Perrey Reeves, Craig Kilborn, Elisha Cuthbert
Old School (2003) Released by:
Not available at this time
Region:
2
Old School (2003) DVD Release Date:
1st January 2006
Our Rating: Extras Rating:

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Old School (2003) Synopsis:

A trio of twenty something buddies tries to recapture the outrageous, irrepressible fun of their college years by starting their own off-campus frat house. Mitch, Frank and Beanie have all reached a crossroads in their lives. They can choose to be responsible adults, with wives, families and steady jobs--or they can postpone adulthood in favor of the reckless abandon of frat house living with all the fun and none of the education. No contest.

Old School (2003) DVD Review:

THE FILM
When his girlfriend turns out to be a swinger, Mitch (Luke Wilson) moves into a house on the edge of a university campus. His mates (Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn) take the opportunity to start their own fraternity, welcoming one and all willing to share in the debauchery of their mid-life crisis.

The director of Road Trip has gone for the mature approach. Mature in the sense that this movie deals with grown-ups rather than teenagers but maybe not in the way one gag involves tying concrete blocks to guy’s dicks and throwing them off a bridge. Luckily Old School works better than previous American Pie wannabes mainly because it doesn’t feel like the plot is simply there to build-up to the next big gross-out moment and here the joke count is kept simmering throughout. This is mainly due to the central protagonists who are all experienced comedy veterans and comes across as having been mates forever while each maintaining their own unique brand of humour.

Vaughn stops trying to resist and goes back to the confident wise cracker we know and love from Swingers. Always on hand for a quick one liner (“earmuffs!”) he doesn’t disappoint except his screen time suffers as the focus concentrates on the other two. I suppose Wilson would be considered the lead but seeing him stuck in David Arquette mode he fails to ignite going for amiable rather than laugh out loud funny meaning you won’t really remember a classic line from him. This would be due to the all-powerful comedy behemoth that is Will Ferrell who yet again steals a movie. Let’s just pause to take in how funny this guy is. Whatever scene he’s embarrassing himself in it’s gold, he is the party animal James Belushi should’ve been in Animal House. When things look like they might get soppy, when Wilson gets that soppy look in his eye, Ferrell storms in to stop the expected morality card being played. No wishy-washy soppy endings here, not on Frank the Tank’s watch, now drop and give me 10 mister!

The frat house mania may be a bit lost on us Brits but this is the pick of the bunch if you want to experience it, never screamingly funny but totally amusing throughout. Old School shows that the grown-ups do it best while the pimply teenagers lazily think that their movie needs another Matrix parody. This movie deftly takes in spoofs on Fight Club, American Beauty and even The Graduate and at least Seann William Scott knows where his loyalties lie, putting in a cameo that makes up for the whole of Bulletproof Monk. What more do you need, an appearance by Snoop Dogg? Well you got it! A great night out from Ferrell & Co, sorry the last word had to go to this genius…Ferrell.

EXTRAS
The commentary track is maybe not as strong as it could have been especially as seeing the three leads plus the director are present. There are a few laughs to be had however with discussion on the ‘shock & awe’ mission that is a naked Ferrell running through the streets and how Wilson acts with his eyes that are nicknamed Kev and Shorty. Plus all the supporting cast are given their due mention, all being funny and talented people in their own right.

The deleted scenes are professionally polished and watchable although with no explanation why they were left out. They don’t add too much to things, you get more on how serious Mitch was about his girlfriend at the beginning of the movie, a different version of the ending locker room team talk were each character seems to have a stab at motivating the gang and there’s also more on Frank’s unwholesome relationship with the doll. The outtakes are funny yet brief.

The Old School Orientation is one of those cheesy American docs voiced by some cheap DJ and prefers to show more of the movie than actual interviews but there are some in there. Don’t expect anything too in-depth. There’s a spoof of Inside the Actor’s Studio that features one of Ferrell’s Saturday Night Live characters interviewing the stars and the director of the movie that fans would probably think would be the highlight of the DVD. Sadly this is not the case and the 20 minute feature is 19 minutes too long with forced, unfunny gags and an uncooperative Vaughn. It hits it’s stride very late on but many will have given up by then.

You also get the usual trailers, text biographies and a gallery plus the makers obviously realise what the main draw is for the movie and have included the naked KY jelly wrestling scene looping constantly in the background of the DVD menu.

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Old School (2003) DVD review written by: Rich Badley

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