National Lampoon's Van Wilder 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		2.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

National Lampoon's Van Wilder 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman August 14, 2018

Is National Lampoon’s Van Wilder dumb? Well, yeah — that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? And yet for all its admitted inconsistency and its patently juvenile, potty mouthed humor, I have to say it provided me personally with a hearty laugh or two, and, yes, that probably says something about how dumb I am. In yet another kind of head scratching 4K UHD release from the good folks at Lionsgate, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder is being trotted out in ultra high definition, for what I must assume are assumed “tie in” marketing opportunities given the Blu-ray and 4K UHD imminence (like, next week as this review is being published) of Ryan Reynolds as a certain latex enveloped superhero. National Lampoon’s Van Wilder coasts a rather considerable distance on Reynolds’ undeniably goofy charisma, but the film has a number of other fun supporting turns, even if the overall effort probably doesn’t merit more than a middling grade, even within the sometimes questionable context of other National Lampoon cinematic offerings.

National Lampoon's Van Wilder has been released previously on Blu-ray, including very early in the format, which is when my colleague Martin Liebman reviewed it. Rather than rehash the fairly simple minded plot, I refer those interested to Marty's National Lampoon's Van Wilder Blu-ray review, and also encourage folks to read over the technical portions of his review and take a gander at the screenshots (more about those in the video section, below). Lionsgate recently brought out this edition, which I'm assuming also provides the 1080p Blu-ray included in this release. Based entirely on the unscientific method that the Blu-ray included on this release has the "old style" Lionsgate masthead (the one with gears), features the same supplements and LPCM 7.1 audio and looks like the screenshots included with Marty's review, I am assuming that the re-release was simply a repackaging. If anyone knows otherwise and can point me to authoritative information in that regard, I'll happily update the review.

National Lampoon's Van Wilder 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Note: Screenshots are sourced from the 1080p Blu-ray. Much as with our recent Predator 4K Blu-ray review and the 1080p Blu-ray screenshots included there, I caution those interested to not judge the appearance of the 4K UHD version by these particular screenshots, since the look of the 1080p and 2160p versions are quite different, and the 1080p Blu-ray release was faulted for inadequate video quality.

National Lampoon's Van Wilder is presented on 4K UHD courtesy of Lionsgate Films with a 2160p transfer in 1.85:1. Marty mentioned a number of failings he felt were in evidence on the 1080p Blu-ray, and to those I would add what seems to be pretty aggressive filtering, giving the entire 1080p viewing experience that smooth, textureless quality that also tends to defeat fine detail and provides an appearance closer to videotape than to film. So, the first and perhaps most important thing to note about this 4K UHD version is that it does in fact have grain, and in a nice surprise given my own less than satisfied reactions to some other Lionsgate 4K UHD releases culled from film sources, the grain field, while heavy at times, resolves naturally and rarely if ever lapses over into what I'd term "swarming" moments. There are still ebbs and flows, not necessarily due to lighting conditions (one of the grainiest sequences is the costume party that begins at around 28:00 in, and the hockey rink sequence even later, a mostly white moment from a palette standpoint, also reveals some spikes in grain). Fine detail is noticeably improved in some admittedly "little" things like the tufted midcentury modern chair in the boys' room, or the "furries" some of the guys wear at a party. Dolby Vision has added a number of new intensities to the palette, which include everything from Tara Reid's bright red liptstick and dress to the blue seats of the lecture hall in one of the last scenes in the film. While there are noticeable new highlights in this version, a lot of this presentation looked a bit brown or even gray to me at times, something that tended to skew flesh tones toward slightly unnatural hues at times. All of this said, this version is considerably darker overall than the 1080p Blu-ray, something that may contribute to some noticeable crush in some darker scenes. There's also a bit of wobble during the opening mastheads (less so than on the 1080p Blu-ray, it should be noted), and what looks like just the hint of image instability during the opening sequence on the brick walls of the college buildings.

While not transfer related, I did have one scary moment with National Lampoon's Van Wilder that had nothing to do with seeing Ryan Reynolds' naked backside (that's a joke, folks). At a little past 15:00 in, when Tim Matheson as Van Wilder's father is berating Ryan's Van, the disc just froze and my Oppo refused to respond to any remote buttons, the first time anything like this has happened since I got my 4K UHD equipment (as I've relayed in other reviews, I've regularly experienced HDMI handshake issues, but nothing like this where a disc has already booted and is playing). Even more troublingly, pressing the Eject button on the player itself did nothing. Only "hard stopping" the player by pressing and holding the Power button turned it off, and thankfully when I powered it back on, while I had to reboot the disc, it then played fine and I encountered no further difficulties. This may have been just one of those weird "ghosts in the machine" that pop up now and again for no discernable reason, but I felt I should mention it in case anyone else experiences similar issues.

National Lampoon's Van Wilder 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Lionsgate has upped the sonic ante of this release by providing a new Dolby Atmos mix (the only one available on the disc, somewhat surprisingly). Marty wasn't overly enthused with the LPCM 7.1 mix on the Blu-ray he reviewed, and I have to say I was similarly just a bit underwhelmed by the Atmos mix. There's certainly surround activity here, evident from the get go in terms of nice placement of effects (the lollipop slurping tailor, the "thud" of the kid jumping off the roof, etc.), but the track really only springs into boisterous life with regard to some of the source cues (which are relatively plentiful) and some of the crowd scenes like the frequent parties and other gatherings. Van's voiceover is anchored front and center, but large dialogue scenes typically provide at least some directionality. This is one of the few Atmos tracks where I'd be hard pressed to detail really prevalent engagement of the Atmos channels. That said, there are no issues with fidelity and as mentioned surround activity is noticeable throughout the presentation.

National Lampoon's Van Wilder 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Most, but not quite all of the supplements from the 1080p Blu-ray have been ported over to this release (the 1080p Blu-ray included in this package has all of the supplements detailed in Marty's review). Missing are the charmingly titled Testicles of the Animal Kingdom and Write That Down. (The slipcover and back cover of this release seem to suggest that the Blu Book Exam is included on the 4K UHD disc, but I sure couldn't find it. If anyone does, let me know and I'll post information here.) While all of the following supplements are ostensibly in HD (their source resolution is identified as 1080p), as Marty's review details, they're actually 480p and definitely have the look of way upscaled video on this release. Marty gives a bit more detail about these in his review.

• Sweet Drunken Idiot Kommentary


• Party Legends, Pledges and "Bull"-ies (HD; 15:57)


• Ultimate College Party Guide (HD; 5:00)


• Gwen-ezuma's Revenge (HD; 7:36)


• Deleted Scenes (HD; 9:03) are windowboxed.


• Outtakes (HD; 12:30)


• Burley Bear TV Specials (HD; 44:15)


• Comedy Central's "Reel Comedy: National Lampoon's Van Wilder (HD; 21:08)


• Sugarcult "Bouncing Off the Walls" Music Video (HD; 2:26)

National Lampoon's Van Wilder 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Those of you who pay attention to scores will note I've given the overall film a slightly higher score than Marty did with his initial Blu-ray review, though all of the failings Marty points out in that review are certainly noticeable. (I've also slightly upped the score for supplements, even though the 4K UHD disc is lacking a couple.) For fans of the film, though, the good news is that the video component here is finally more organic looking, and while the audio may not be reference quality, Lionsgate deserves kudos for going the extra mile and providing an Atmos mix. The missing featurette on animal testicles? Well, you can't have everything. Write that down.