
In certain circles, Van Wilder is a living legend at Coolidge College, where he's been a student now for seven years, not yet having completed his degree requirements. Despite being bright, he never attends classes anymore, instead hosting parties, imparting his brand of wisdom to his adoring fans, hosting school organization fundraisers, and rallying the college spirit among the student body. Conversely, Van loves his Coolidge life. In his antics, he has a 2ic in Hutch, and ... (Full plot summary below)
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In certain circles, Van Wilder is a living legend at Coolidge College, where he's been a student now for seven years, not yet having completed his degree requirements. Despite being bright, he never attends classes anymore, instead hosting parties, imparting his brand of wisdom to his adoring fans, hosting school organization fundraisers, and rallying the college spirit among the student body. Conversely, Van loves his Coolidge life. In his antics, he has a 2ic in Hutch, and always hires a personal assistant, this year's being a South Asian transfer student named Taj, who wants to learn from the best, namely Van. Van's college life is threatened when his wealthy neglectful father only now learns that Van is still in school, Wilder Sr. who has been paying his way all this time. As such, Wilder Sr. pulls the plug on that subsidy, meaning that Van has to figure out a way to pay for his Coolidge life. Because of his living legend status, Van becomes the subject of a series of articles by the college paper's star reporter, Gwen Pearson, an assignment she would rather not do, preferring harder hitting material. However, in Gwen needing to spend time with Van, Richard Bagg, Gwen's arrogant fraternity president pre-med boyfriend, tries to place Van in a bad light time and time again, believing that Gwen and Van are falling for each other. Also in spending time with Gwen, Van may come to a true understanding of why he has stayed at Coolidge for such a long time, and what he should be looking for in his future.
Leave your thoughts about National Lampoon's Van Wilder.
| Boston PhoenixTom MeekThe film, directed jerkily by Walt Becker, hangs too much on the lovers-to-be and doesn't take full advantage of the screwball caricatures lurking in the wings. |
| Entertainment TodayBrent SimonIts gross-out gags and colorful set pieces... are of course stultifyingly contrived and too stylized by half. Still, it gets the job done -- a sleepy afternoon rental. |
| Zap2it.comMichael SzymanskiI went in not wanting to like it, not wanting to laugh, and certainly not to give it any credence for being this generation's "Animal House." But it is, and it's funny. |
| San Diego Union-TribuneAngela CarrollWhile some of the pranks in National Lampoon's Van Wilder are more extreme than we've seen in There's Something About Mary or the American Pie movies, this film has enough heart to balance it out. |
| One Guy's OpinionFrank SwietekAnother week, another gross-out college comedy--ugh. |
| Apollo GuideBrian WebsterOften silly - and gross - but it's rarely as moronic as some campus gross-out films. |
| Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckFor a film like this to work, the hero must be as charming as he is irrepressible, and Reynolds, star of the ABC series Two Guys and a Girl, fits the bill. |
| TradesAlex KeenSpends too much time and effort on weak gross-out gags, and sprints past romantic moments between Van and Gwen. |
| St. Paul Pioneer PressChris HewittFor a movie that is almost entirely set at keggers, it's surprisingly entertaining. |
| SPLICEDWireRob BlackwelderWhen Van Wilder sticks to its wits, its comedy is unstoppable. But...there's an equal (amount) of acute unoriginality and beyond-belief bad taste. |