''Old School''

Old school is about 3 friends who start up a college fraternity long after they have left college. The reason for this is that Mitch (Luke Wilson) catches his girlfriend cheating on him and he buys a house on the school campus. The only way he can keep the property legally is if he starts a fraternity to contribute to the university in some way.

Even thought it could be considered as another slice of the american pie, so to speak, its actually a hilarious and very enjoyable film. The casting is fantastic as you see a lot of familiar faces who have all proved themselves in other areas of film or television. Actors like Sean William Scott who makes a brief appearance, still delivers a great few lines despite his cameo role. Rick Gonzalez who played a major role in 'Reaper' a television series which i used to be obsessed with plays a minor role but still manages to amuse us with most of his lines. Simon Helburg from the Big Bang Theory also plays a minor role, his role just proves he isn't a one trick pony and can perform on the silver screen.

Whats great about this movie is that it perfectly captures middle age men trying to recapture their youth. Seemingly obvious but its shown all through the film with things like Vince Vaughan smoking whilst dressed as a clown at a kids party including his code word with his son 'earmuffs' which he says when he wants to swear. Will Ferrell puts in a great performance as the nutter he is. With some incredible lines from him including a hysterical ribbon display for the gymnastics.

As this is a fraternity they have to have pledges and the above picture shows one particular task. I won't go into details but I think its pretty obvious what they are doing. The reason for this is a trust exercise as they are to trust their pledge masters judgement that the rope has enough....slack. One particular pledge throws off his cinder block and it crashes through a manhole and pulls him off with it, with him letting out a hilarious scream as he falls. Its comedy like this which will never die, no one will ever get tired of watching stupid people hurt themselves in films. It may be considered cliche or done before but people will never not find this funny. I know i won't even in my twilight years.

Sean William Scott: Acting like Stifler even when he isnt. Brilliant stuff from him as always.

Smoking clowns shouldnt be at birthday parties

A really good film and I think most of the reason for this is the casting. The supporting actors are excellent as they help fill out the film with extra laughs. Films with poor supporting actors are always not as good as you're always waiting for the main guy to say something funny, the casting for the guys in the fraternity was excellent and you never really know when one of them is going to make a joke or make a fool of themselves which leaves you in stitches a lot of the time.


8/10