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Special Features
- Party legends, pledges and 'Bull'-ies
- Drunken Idiot kommentary
- Ultimate college party guide
- Gwen-ezuma's revenge
- Interactive menus
- Testicles of the Animal Kingdom: Interactive quizzicle
- Write that down: Quotes from and inspired by teh film
- Deleted Scenes
- Outtakes
- Burly TV specials Half Baked, Imposter and Movie Junkie
- Comedy Central's Reel Comedy: National Lampoon’s Van Wilder
- Music Video
- Trailers
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
In a futile but ambitiously decadent attempt to revive the loony legacy of National Lampoon comedies, Van Wilder will make you laugh out loud, or vomit, or both. It's that kind of movie, in which the title character (played by sitcom survivor Ryan Reynolds) is the resident slacker of Coolidge College for seven years and running. Enjoying his party-animal supremacy and reluctant to fulfill his potential, he's got an idolizing assistant from India (Kal Penn, the movie's ethnic stereotype, desperate virgin, and comedic highlight), and a journalism major (Tara Reid) assigned to uncover the secret of Van's controlled anarchy. Unfortunately, the movie's more Down to You than Animal House, opting for familiar teen romance over campus shenanigans, despite an abundance of flatulence, diarrhea, sicko sex jokes, gratuitous nudity, and one gag (involving a bulldog) that's disgusting by any standard. Keg-fueled frat-rats will surely elevate Van Wilder to semiclassic status; all others are urged to proceed with caution. --Jeff Shannon
Weekend at Bernie's
Weekend at Bernie's starts when two lowly clerks at an insurance agency uncover a $2 million fraud and report it to their boss, Bernie (Terry Kiser). Unfortunately for them, Bernie is the one behind the fraud, and he invites them to his island beach house for the weekend, where he intends to have them killed by his mob contacts. Unfortunately for Bernie, the mob decides to rub him out instead--and thus begin the necrotic hijinks. The clerks, Richard (Jonathan Silverman) and Larry (Andrew McCarthy), arrive and discover Bernie's body. At first they panic and start to call the police, but when a party of islanders sweeps in, Richard and Larry also discover that the local residents are so self-absorbed they don't notice that Bernie is dead. So if our heroes can just convince everyone that Bernie is still alive for they weekend, they can have a splendid time. Unfortunately, they also convince the mob hitman, who keeps trying to take Bernie out. Weekend at Bernie's was made at the height of 1980s fashion and features many amusing outfits and hairstyles--often the styles are funnier than the dialogue, and the characters are tissue-paper thin. Still, there's no denying that the movie chugs along from bit to bit and never takes itself more seriously than it should. A cheerful, disposable piece of fluff. --Bret Fetzer
Product Description
Customer Reviews
But for those of us who may have been born after the original release of AH and raised on films like the American Pie trilogy get a new version of Animal House for the new generation with Van Wilder.
Van (Ryan Reynolds) is the virtual definition of a slacker in the college world, having spent seven years attending Coolidge College. He is pretty much the life of the party and he revels in it greatly. It's only until his dad (Matheson) finds out that Van is still in school and places a halt to Van's tuition payment that he realizes that it's time to get his head in the game and find a way to graduate and pay tuition.
A story printed by the school's star reporter Gwen (Tara Reid) causes Van to become a party planner and raise the money for his tuition, along with the help of his closest friend (Teck Holmes of "Real World" fame) and his personal assistant (Kal Penn). When a relationship develops between Van and Gwen, Gwen's pretentious boyfriend Richard tries to put a wedge between them. When Van learns of this, he gets a little revenge in one of the most ingenious and disgusting ways ever devised (trust me, this has the humping a pie thing beaten hands down, no pun intended...)
Van Wilder is pretty hilarious in spots and somewhat disgusting in others, particularly the classic payback Van pulls on Richard and later on when Gwen also gets a little revenge on Richard when she learns a little something that Richard did behind Gwen's back. Also, Penn and Holmes have some gut-busting moments in support and is it nice to see Matheson deciding to continue his association with National Lampoon by bridging the gap between Animal House and Van Wilder.
A word of advice, though: if you have a weak stomach, this is not the movie for you. But if have that type of sense of humor that thinks that letting one rip loudly in public causes you to double over with laughter, then definitely check out Van Wilder.
The writers out did themselves on the script. This is a smart comedy that cleverly weaves the characters and story together. I've seen other comedies that were complete paradies of other movies with no plot but scene after scene of horrible gags and imitations of other movies. Apparently there is a market out there in copy-cat world that is alive and kicking. Since the movie is set in the tradition of National Lampoon, Ryan Reynolds combines some character traits of Chevy Chase, Jim Carrey and Bill Murray to complete his Van Wilder persona, but he still maintains that lovable charm. He is treated as a celebrity in his school, but eveyone loves him because he sincerely cares for them and knows how to have a "pimpin' good time" doing it. This is not a typical "teen underdog becomes popular and gets revenge on his school bullies" story. If you dig deep the real conflict of the story is with Van Wilder himself and his reluctance to graduate and move on into the real world. But that's neither here nor there -- it's more fun to think about him as the Party Liaison or the Raddest ...Dude Alive.
Kal Penn holds his own as Van Wilder's assistant Taj. He just adds that much more to the comedy and practically stole the show. Tara Reid porbably did her best role as Gwen in this movie. That's about it.
Great movie with lots of laughs. Gotta see it.
The interview with Taj is the funniest scene in any movie in decades.
Write that down.
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