 "Photo:")
All college movies, no matter how rude, crude, raunchy or just plain stupid, share a common uniting factor that seems to bind them all.
From "Animal House" to "Legally Blonde," college is treated less as a physical place than an abstract idea. It is the ultimate pit stop on the road from adolescence to adulthood - the greatest of juvenile playgrounds.
The bluntly titled film "College," which premieres this weekend, fits snugly in a genre that treats adult education like a booby-trapped dungeon of potential pratfalls.
As a matter of fact, "College" is not even really about college students. Rather, it follows three high school seniors through a larger-than-life weekend of wild parties and awkward sexual situations.
However, many of the genre's best films are like "College," focusing on people who are not actually in college, but nevertheless come under its alluring spell.
Take the 1994 comedy "PCU," about a high school senior's weekend visit to college, that has established a cult following and features early-career performances from Jeremy Piven and future "Iron Man" director Jon Favreau.
And there's "Legally Blonde," which features the always-dazzling Reese Witherspoon as a sorority girl who magically gets into Harvard to win the affections of her ex-boyfriend.
The film again uses the "fish out of water" set up while placing a strong female lead in a genre that often favors dominant males and weak female characterizations.
And while most people claim the college movie came into fruition in 1978 with the seminal classic "Animal House," the Marx Brothers did their own sendup of college football and higher education in their classic film "Horse Feathers," which is as sharp and funny decades later as any movie about college.
Probably the most interesting college film in a while is "Old School." Instead of focusing on high school seniors on the fringes of college, the film inverts the old standard, looking at middle-aged men trying to return to college in a bizarre case of arrested development.
But as many movies are about outsiders looking into the college world, there are still plenty of movies that celebrate college for college's sake. And as hilarious as "Road Trip," "Van Wilder," and other more contemporary entries are, they all owe an obvious debt to the original college classic, "Animal House."
Arguably the most blissful of all college movies, there remains something iconic about the loose, ensemble-driven flow of "Animal House" that continues to resonate decade after decade with college students.
And an honorable mention goes to "Undeclared," the short-lived television series about life in a co-ed dorm from creator Judd Apatow ("Freaks and Geeks," "Knocked Up"). The series lasted only one season, but is still cited as a hilarious ode to college life.
"College" has plenty to live up to, with college students sure to see it this weekend. Instead of trying to do something remarkably different, "College" seems like it's trying to draw in as many ideas from other movies as possible.
Whether "College" is a comic success or not, these sure-fire college comedy classics are guaranteed to leave you aching from laughter.
Be the first to comment on this article!