I’ve never really seen Animal House, but I would imagine any comparisons between that apparent classic and Old School must be grossly exaggerated. I can not see this movie ever becoming a classic.

I chose to see Old School because it was between that and The Life Of David Gale, and even though I respect the Hell outta Kevin Spacey, and I’m still madly in love with Kate Winslet, I just wasn’t in the mood for a heavy drama. The fact that it’s being panned by the critics didn’t help either, not that I give them much weight anyway. If I wanna see something, I’m gonna see it, critics be damned. Well, the critics weren’t very nice to Old School either.
With pretty good reason.

There are laughs to be had here, and the main three characters as played by Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson are all pretty cool. Those three actors did a great job. Vaughn is a really cool actor…he’s so natural that in every scene he has here, and everywhere I’ve seen him, he just seems to be having a conversation with someone. This kind of movie seems to be kind of a change of pace for him, and for Wilson, who does a great job. It’s kinda weird to see Wilson in this kind of movie, and to be funny in a pretty straightforward manner. He usually seems to be…quirkier. Here he was more reminiscent of his real life brother, Owen Wilson.

Will Ferrell is sorely missed on Saturday Night Live. I know he left to broaden his horizons, and I can appreciate that, but I hope he gets better material than this in the future. Still, he is very funny here, albeit annoying as Hell. And for God’s sake, I hope he keeps his clothes on in the future. Leah Remini has a very small role in Old School, which is almost so unnecessary that I wonder why she bothered. I’m sure she can do much better. Perrey Reeves is not very well known, but I remember her from an early X Files episode where she was a vampire. She’s attractive, and a pretty good actress to boot. Elisha Cuthbert, from TV’s 24 is really, really hot. To think she used to be on a Nickelodeon show. The little ones...they grow up so fast!
I was very interested in seeing how Ellen Pompeo did in this movie. I care because she had one little scene in DAREDEVIL, as Karen Page, and damn it, if there is a sequel (here’s to hoping!) she should be a bigger part of it, at least if they are true to her character from the comic books. But she did a nice job here, even though she pretty much was standard romantic interest fare.

I wasn’t expecting much from Old School, so I can’t say I was disappointed. Still, it would be great to finally see a really good, yet really silly and funny movie.
Maybe next time…