Van Wilder: Freshman Year (Unrated) – DVD Review

The Flick

The original Van Wilder was a pretty solid flick.  I didn’t love it, but I definitely enjoyed watching it, mostly because of Ryan Reynolds’ performance at the title character.  Van Wilder: Freshman Year on the other hand didn’t have Reynolds to back it up and because of this (and a bad script) the flick misses the mark by a mile.  

The plot is paper thin and generic.  Wilder (Jonathan Bennett) graduates from high school and begins his college career at his father’s alma-mater.  As soon as he sets foot on the campus grounds he notices that there are certain rules the college follows that are non-conducive to a fun college environment.  Signs that read, “No Kissing,” “No Drinking” are plastered all over campus.  So Wilder sets out to teach the students how to have fun and happens to fall in love with Kaitlin Hays (Kristin Cavallari), who happens to be dating a prick ROTC butt-munch.  And to top it off the Dean hates Wilder because his dad gave him a hard time when he was in school.  

This flick didn’t need to be made.  It was bland, the jokes were bad, the actors were cardboard, and the plot was recycled.  If USA Up All Night was still blessing the airwaves with its awesome presence and the filmmakers would have used a different title I might have enjoyed this flick for what it is, a cheap sex comedy with no real heart.  But it’s not aiming for late night hosted television and it is titled Van Wilder: Freshman Year, so for my dollar it was just another weak direct to DVD comedy.  

There were a few good things going on in the flick.  Despite her stiff as a board performance Kristin Cavallari is smoking hot, and so are the rest of the female cast members.  Also, the flick doesn’t shy away from nudity, which is a big plus in my book, but not big enough to gloss over how bad this flick sucked.  That’s about it as far as good things go, and since listing the bad things would take up way to much of my time, I’ll just mention a few.  The dog has big balls joke is only really funny once, having anyone other than Ryan reynolds play Van Wilder is a crime, and bad jokes are still bad jokes even when hot girls are present.  

If your looking for a time waster with a steady flow of hot ladies, then Van Wilder: Freshman Year might be your bag, but I’d just rent porn instead.  This flick is definitely not a killer film. 

The DVD

Audio/Video – The audio was pretty solid, yet nothing special.  The video quality was adequate for a direct to DVD release.  

Creating the Legend: The Making of Van Wilder Freshman Year – I actually enjoyed this short featurette more than the movie itself.  It’s got some funny moment and is worth checking out.

Going Balls Out: Colossus – A short profile of the mutt with the giant nuts.  Maybe it’s just me but this gag didn’t work for me like it did in the original.  

Collidge College Orientation – Characters provide their opinions of the college.  I could have skipped this feature.

Decatur – Kristen does a goofy spoof of her hit show The Hills.  I’m not a fan of The Hills so this wasn’t all that funny to me, although it was funnier than Van Wilder: Freshman Year.  

Teacher’s Pet – This montage of hotties from the film was by far one of the best features on the disc.  Simple and to the point, jut hot girls.  

Van’s Party Supplies – This feature talks about some of the props used in the flick.

Prank 101 – The movie’s cast talk about pranks.  

Bloopers – This is a standard blooper reel, but some of the material on here is pretty darn funny.  

The Flick: Rating:

The DVD: Rating:

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