National Lampoon’s Van Wilder on DVD

Fans of National Lampoon’s Animal House have a new version, made for the new generation.

Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds) is in his seventh year of college, with no plans to ever graduate. He’s the coolest, most popular guy on campus: so much so that freshmen audition to be his assistant for the year. He throws the best parties, gets all the ladies he wants, and occasionally even goes to class. He’s so popular that the college paper wants to do a front-page story on him.

But his father, eventually realizing his son is still in school, cuts off the funding. So Van Wilder has to come up with a way to make enough cash to stay in school. He does so by charging to plan parties, and hiring strippers as study aides. Gwen Pearson (Tara Reid), the newspaper journalist who thinks him an ass at the start of her research, soon realizes he’s a pretty decent guy. Even though she’s dating the campus jerk, she starts to have feelings for Wilder, and vice versa.

Nothing predictable here...

National Lampoon, who have brought us such classics as the aforementioned Animal House and the equally-loved Vacation series, has made a movie that is definitely not a classic, but which is still pretty funny. Much of it is gross-out humor, which is to be expected of this type of movie these days. Some of the jokes work very well, and others don’t work so well.

Ryan Reynolds (most notably from TV’s Two Guys and a Girl), proves himself a worthy leading man, but unfortunately Tara Reid (as hot as she is) has about as much acting talent as Heather Graham. From the mouth of another actress, her lines may have actually been delivered properly.

Still, she’s the straight man (woman) in this case, so at least she isn't in dire need of precise comic timing. Reynolds and the supporting cast take care of that job.

Van Wilder has some pretty funny moments, but it’s nothing really new. If you enjoyed American Pie and some of the other R-Rated teen movies, this will probably suit you just fine. But be warned: there are naked breasts and dogs with big testicles.

The unrated version (which is the one we reviewed) features about two minutes of additional footage apparently “too hot” for theatres (which means it’s nothing but nudity). Having not seen the film theatrically, it’s hard to say exactly what the footage is.

For some odd reason, Van Wilder was given a 2-disc special edition, even though it would have worked just as easily on one disc. The Widescreen and Pan & Scan versions are on disc one, while the supplements are on the second disc. Honestly, this is the wrong way to do it. The different versions of the film should be on separate discs, which each contain the same extras. That way you don’t have to switch discs just to watch the special features.

But anyway…

The picture quality, though a bit soft, is fine. It isn't reference quality by any means, but there are no major flaws, either. Colors are fairly sharp, and there is a tiny bit of halo effect in places, but it’s otherwise pretty good. You get your choice of either 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen or Pan & Scan.

The sound is presented in 5.1 Dolby Digital, but as is the case with most movies like this, it’s merely an average quality track - undoubtedly because it doesn’t need to be anything more. There are no explosions, action sequences or sound effects that need massive surround use or a good subwoofer, so most of what you want to hear is in the dialogue. In this case, it’s restricted pretty much to the front, which is perfectly fine. It’s as good as it needs to be and nothing more.

Pop in disc two and you get the extras, which don’t look that spectacular on the box and aren’t. There are some deleted scenes, some of which are amusing, and some outtakes that are not very. On the unrated version, there is an additional “Topless Tutor” deleted scene. Most of the featurettes are pretty lame, particularly the “Half Baked Special” and “Movie Junkie” interview. But there are also “Impostor” (candid camera type of thing), The Music of Van Wilder, and Comedy Central’s Reel Comedy. Finally, there are some Van Wilder Files (amusing, so I don’t want to spoil them), a campaign art gallery, a music video and the trailer.

Van Wilder, from Alliance Atlantis Home Entertainment
94 minutes, anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) 16X9 enhanced/pan & scan, 5.1 Dolby Digital
Starring Ryan Reynolds, Tara Reid, Tim Matheson, Paul Gleason
Produced by Robert L. Levy, Peter Abrams, Andrew Panay, Jonathon Komack Martin
Written by Brent Goldberg & David T. Wagner
Directed by Walt Becker

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