OH man, here we go. Today I am watching the 2002 CLASSIC film where Deadpool goes to college and throws parties featuring the Sharknado magnet herself. Clearly, I am talking about Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid, in a movie that is literally synonymous with the early 2000’s era of comedy. We are talking light racism, dog genitalia, poop jokes, child intoxication… heck, I think they work the derogatory term for the vertically challenged in once or twice. And you know what? Its a pretty gosh darn funny film to boot.
Now, full disclosure, I’ve seen this movie quite a bit. It was a favorite of my college roommate, where he watched it often and quoted it oftener. He had a tendency to re-watch movies that he loved, so that basically left this and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Not knocking the LOTR, but after about 20 watches of the 14 hour directors cut, I will take a dumb fart joke any day of the week.
So, what’s going on? Why am I willing to watch a movie I’ve seen plenty for this blog, when generally I like to watch movies I am a bit less familiar with? Well, I started a new quarter of class this week, and it is a LOT of work. So, I am going to take this opportunity to listen and watch this movie out of the corner of my eye and see if anything sticks out to me, then report back what my opinions are of it here. Yes, its cheating. But its also my blog, so I get to make the rules. Dem’s the breaks, and here’s the trailer. (I guess it was originally called “Van Wilder: Party Liaison”. Probably a good idea to drop the last part.)
This movie absolutely wouldn’t be made in 2020. First of all, its just a different style of comedy. I don’t know if the National Lampoon brand really is that popular anymore, but beyond the relatively dated plot structure, there are a lot of items that are… problematic.
First, its pretty racist by 2020 terms. Basically, Kal Penn’s character is just “enter Indian stereotype here”. Its a bummer too, because Kal Penn is a pretty solid actor, at least from what I saw of him on House MD. But for the most part, he was typecast into this Indian-stoner/awkward party animal role for his entire career; honestly, beyond this and House, the only thing I can really think of him in are the “Harold & Kumar” films.
Then there are the homophobic jokes, with Tara Reid’s boyfriend and his frat buddies basically hinting at being in love with one another the entire movie. Van Wilder’s father calls him a “fairy” too, which would be pretty much the kiss of death these days. There are a lot of fat jokes, sex with old lady jokes, puke jokes, poop jokes; not all of them would restrict this movie from 2020, but they dont quite play as well.
Honestly, the only reason I think this does work in today’s world is just the sheer magnetism of Ryan Reynolds. I think calling him a “good actor” is unfair to good actors; he is a fun guy to watch on screen, but you always just see him as Ryan Reynolds. He is doing the same bit in Deadpool as he is doing in this one, and its awesome. Ryan Reynolds is the freaking man, and to see him in this just reminds me of how great he is when he gets in the right role.
Tara Reid, however, is… just awful. God, i don’t know how that woman ever got parts. I’m pretty sure my pinky toe has more charisma. It is pretty fitting that the only movies she really has had in the past 10 years have been the “Sharknado” films; honestly I think she has overperformed her potential in those, even.
Now, if you read to this point, you probably think I hated this last re-watch. I didn’t. Honestly, this movie is pretty entertaining, it is just shocking to watch this and think about how much the overton window has shifted since 2002. This movie is not horrible; I definitely would recommend it to my parents or to people who are easily offended, but if you like Ryan Reynolds and want to watch a REALLY dumb and 2020-brand offensive comedy, this will probably do the trick.
Ain't That Bad - Movie Blog 