It’s an age-old story: three unpopular and unsuspecting high school seniors visit the local institute of higher learning looking for a wild time, only to be taken in by a crew of twisted frat boys on academic probation. Before long, the innocents have become de-facto freshman pledges and the subjects of an endless series of cruel and unusual hazing rituals.
If you think you’ve heard this all before, you’re right. College is the latest in a predictable history of campus-related teen comedies, yet it owes as much to Animal House as it does to last summer’s smash hit Superbad, from which it borrows shamelessly, including several late-night, alcohol-fueled scenes that are eerily familiar.
The most obvious similarity is the group of timid high schoolers: the overweight wannabe stud (Andrew Caldwell, doing his best Jack Black), the clueless nerd (Kevin Covais) and the uptight loser (teen heartthrob Drake Bell), who’s determined to morph in one eye-opening weekend from shy everyman to suave ladies man.
But the group fails to develop much chemistry. Bell delivers an especially wooden performance as the leading man, while Caldwell lacks the motor-mouthed comedic timing of Jonah Hill that gave Superbad much of its allure.
And while College contains all the elements of past teen movie glories like American Pie, it lacks the cleverness and subtle human element that made those films exciting, or, at the very least, watchable. In place of originality are a number of hare-brained comedic devices designed to shock and disgust: a stampede of pigs, a perverse game of body shots and Verne Troyer peeing all over the principal characters.
Genteel viewers beware: College’s gross out factor reaches off-putting heights, and some of the gag-inducing humour nearly lives up to its figurative billing. It’s a lure of the lowest common denominator. You might laugh, but you won’t feel good about it.