National Lampoon's Van Wilder (Party Liaison) (2002)
Ryan Reynolds, Tara Reid, Tim Matheson, Kal Penn, Erik Estrada ... (see more) , Chris Owen , Paul Gleason
The most popular kid on campus meets a beautiful journalist who makes him realize that maybe he's afraid to graduate.
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R, 93 min.
Directed by:
Walt Becker
Release Date: Apr 05, 2002
DVD Release Date: Aug 20, 2002
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Flixster User Reviews
It follows nicely in the footsteps of it's National Lampoons college flick predecessor; Animal House. Fun times.
this movie always makes me laugh...the way ryan reynold play van is perfect. and the story had such a great flow to it
It was barely funny in the first hour. Picks up its comedic momentum towards the end. It's a decent flick with some crude humor and touchy-feely portions.
I just think it's funny and enjoy it every time I catch this on TV!
National Lampoon managed to rejuvenate the failing name with the delivery of Van Wilder, another coming of age college sex comedy about the title character, played by a then-barely known Ryan Reynolds (though still unable to keep a shirt on) as the c... (read more) National Lampoon managed to rejuvenate the failing name with the delivery of Van Wilder, another coming of age college sex comedy about the title character, played by a then-barely known Ryan Reynolds (though still unable to keep a shirt on) as the college's most popular student and hero who, now in his 7th year, is forced to fend for himself when his estranged, rich father (Tim Matheson in a quirky role that goes back to his NL roots) cuts him off. Equipped with a sidekick (former reality TV star Teck Holmes) and an assistant (a then-unknown Kal Penn), Wilder must take on the task of earning tuition money by being a party planner, seek the love of the newspaper journalist (the atrocious Tara Reid) wanting an interview, and fend off the douche frat dude boyfriend (scene stealing Daniel Cosgrove). Some great people show up in small roles, like Paul Gleason (of Breakfast Club fame), Erik Estrada (Chips), Curtis Armstrong (Booger from the Revenge of the Nerds films), and a debuting (and VERY hot) Sophie Bush, whose small scene was impressive enough to score her a lead role in Terminator 3...which she lost a few days later, lol. Overall, this film is moderately amusing and definitely has its funny moments, however, this is thankful entirely to a supporting cast, namely the likes of Penn and Cosgrove (funny as hell). Unfortunately, most people pushed away a talented supporting cast in favor of drooling over Reynolds and Reid, who were both quite irritable then (and STILL are today). Though a bit outdated (rough considering this movie is barely 8 years old), the film still manages to be funny with the gross-out gags and jokes (which are still surprisingly powerful enough to rival gross out humor of films today). Not bad. Followed by a completely unnecessary, pointless, yet embarrassingly better sequel that focuses solely on Penn's Taj character thankfully.
makes me laugh every time i watch, ryan reynolds has that comic gift in my personal opinion and i just love this film!
Critic Reviews
It's a tasteless, tacky movie full of cheap T&A.full review
When it runs out of ways to be funny, Van Wilder resorts to schmaltz.full review
Smug and dumb as they come, it's a series of eruptive gross-out sketches tenuously linked by a romance plot.full review
Laughter for me was such a physical impossibility during National Lampoon's Van Wilder that had I not been pledged to sit through the film, I would have lifted myself up by my bootstraps and fled.full review
The movie ends with outtakes in which most of the characters forget their lines and just utter 'uhhh,' which is better than most of the writing in the movie.full review
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