Film #183 - National Lampoon’s Van Wilder (2002)
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder attempts to recapture some of National Lampoon’s past glory by returning to college and trying to define an era in much the same way Animal House did. While it never reaches the inspired levels of that earlier film (and all to often goes into that unfortunate land we call “gross-out humor”), a strong performance from its lead and a better than expected storyline and script allow this film do what it set out to do: redeem the National Lampoon name. (They’d squander that quickly enough.)
The film first establishes the nature of Van Wilder, himself, played by Ryan Reynolds, an actor who up until then was probably best known from the best forgotten sitcom Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place. We see that he is popular, intelligent (though he doesn’t use it for school work) and generally a nice guy. This begins to be underlined when school paper reporter Gwen Pearson (Tara Reid) is assigned to learn all about Van and she begins to see what really drives him.
Unfortunately, what could have been a straightforward story has to get into the “rivalry” mindset that has defined college films since Animal House. In this case it is in the form of Gwen’s obvious asshole boyfriend, Richard (Daniel Cosgrove), whose actions against Van eventually push him to achieve his potential (and graduate).
The other major plot thread is Van’s need to pay his tuition since his father (the brilliantly-cast Tim Matheson) has cut him off. This is the situation that gives Richard his opportunity, but I think a lot of the character growth that Van gains could have been done without the aid of a “villain”.
Basically, the film is rescued from being another PCU or (heaven forbid) Up the Academy by the performance of Reynolds. His peculiar line delivery has since proved to serve him well in a variety of roles, but seeing it here for the first time, I became an instant fan. Sure, the plot is hokey and many of the jokes are lame. But Reynolds sells them perfectly. It helps that the non-jokey dialogue is actually pretty good. So good that even Tara Reid comes off pretty well. The rest do well enough, but few rise to the point of being truly memorable. Special note to Kal Penn in his best role as wanna-be party animal Tal* and Matheson, the only man who could play Van’s father.
I never blame a film for being formulaic if it can do well within that formula and Van Wilder certainly does. If I have one complaint it’s the “gross-out” humor. I’ve never really liked it and I don’t think I ever will. It seems a cheap and easy way to get a laugh. The fact is, Van Wilder has enough going for it that it doesn’t need that to keeps things moving. Since the days of Animal House, I think only two films have succeeded in capturing a bit of that film’s magic. It’s nice that at least one of them came out under the banner of the Lampoon itself.