National Lampoon's Van Wilder Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		2.0
Audio		3.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		2.0

National Lampoon's Van Wilder Blu-ray Movie Review

Sophomoric humor at its worst.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman December 1, 2009

We'll be accepting donations in the form of cash, Visa, and full-frontal nudity.

The above quote is the perfect summation of the soulless Comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder, a dull collection of raunchy gags strung together by a coherent but otherwise generalized plot that ensures only plenty of wild party scenes, innuendo, gross-out visual and verbal gags, and, yes, gratuitous full-frontal nudity. Attempting to mold itself into the next great College Comedy and join the fraternity of classics like Revenge of the Nerds and National Lampoon's Animal House, Van Wilder falls flat at every turn, whether in its futile attempts at originality or its thoroughly formulaic and recycled story lines and jokes. Granted, this is par for the course for a gross-out Comedy, but it becomes clear early on that Van Wilder is raunchy only for the sake of being raunchy; then again, it's almost impossible to criticize it too harshly considering that it obviously accomplishes what it sets out to do.

This is your brain on 'Van Wilder.'

Seventh-year undergraduate Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds, The Proposal), a student renowned for everything but academics, has finally had his tuition money revoked by his wealthy but disappointed father (Tim Matheson). Desperate to maintain the status quo, Van is able to set up a payment plan with the school but must find a way of generating income without actually slaving away at a real job (not to mention attending class). He and his personal assistant Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Kal Penn, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle) concoct a scheme that keeps Van in school -- for the time being. Meanwhile, student reporter Gwen Pearson (Tara Reid, Urban Legend) is tasked with penning an article on the seven-year wonder, and her piece proves enough of a success that she's given the opportunity for a follow-up column bound for the front page of the paper's graduation issue. Van and Gwen slowly see past each other's superficialities and develop a relationship that seems headed towards something more than a platonic acquaintance, much to the chagrin of Gwen's jealous and ambitious boyfriend Richard (Daniel Cosgrove) who puts Van Wilder in his crosshairs, resulting in a series of tit-for-tat maneuvers that will spell the end for one of them at Coolidge College.

Aside from a stale and by-the-number plot, Van Wilder is populated with forgettable characters, no particularly memorable scenes, and no classic one-liners, a trio of certain deathblows for any Comedy of this sort. There's no Bluto, Flounder, or Dean Wormer; no guitar-smashing, dead horse, or crashed parade; and no "you guys playing cards?," "was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?," or "zero-point-zero." Then again, Animal House is the king of College Comedies; the problem isn't that Van Wilder can't match or surpass it, it's that the film simply tries too hard to recapture the same magic for a new generation and fails at every turn. It never can decide if it is its own creature or a recycled jumble of College films past; while some of the humor may be original to an extent (and not particularly funny), the overreaching plot elements -- student trying to stay in school so he can continue on in the party scene, bad boy and good girl falling for one another, and student taking seriously one last chance to pull himself together in hopes of staying in school and graduating -- are nothing new, and the staleness of it all, intermixed with one gross-out visual or verbal gag after another that, at best, elicit a few hearty chuckles, hardly make Van Wilder anything more than a curiosity, a pointless exercise in filmmaking that aims for the lowest common denominator, a target this film precisely hits.

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

National Lampoon's Van Wilder's 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer is in need of some remedial work. A soft, listless image from beginning to end, this one never inspires confidence -- let alone engenders a sense of high definition visual bliss -- and it is bested by a sound yet unremarkable uncompressed soundtrack at every turn. Within the transfer's generally murky confines, colors range from disappointingly dim to overzealously bright. Fine detail is decent at-a-glance but falls generally flat and unnatural upon further scrutiny, another victim of the transfer's unfortunate dim and dull presentation. A hockey scene in chapter eight is particularly atrocious; fuzzy, hazy, indistinct, devoid of sparkling color, and packed with random artifacts, the scene is the worst the film has to offer but also representative of most of the problems scattered throughout. Also appearing are speckles, a touch of edge enhancement, and minor blocking and banding. Flesh tones are waxy and unnatural, and blacks never deliver truly inky and distinct shadows. National Lampoon's Van Wilder's transfer disappoints in nearly every facet.

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

National Lampoon's Van Wilder belts out a good but not particularly memorable PCM 7.1 uncompressed soundtrack. Dialogue in a general sense is strong and pleasing enough, though voice-over monologues tend to feature an unnatural low end accompanying presence. Instrumental music enjoys solid clarity across the front, while some of the more aggressive Rock numbers are particularly impressive with a flowing and strong presence through the trio of front channels. Likewise, music enjoys a subtle surround sound accompaniment, and the track features several decent but not necessarily immersive directional and spatial effects, particularly in chatty campus shots and party scenes filled with students seemingly shuffling and speaking about the entirety of the soundstage. All said, Van Wilder's lossless soundtrack isn't particularly noteworthy, but it gets the job done in every necessary facet, besting the mediocre video presentation and making for the strongest aspect of this otherwise paltry Blu-ray presentation.

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

National Lampoon's Van Wilder enrolls on Blu-ray with a course load of extras that's great in length but short on substance. Drunken Idiot Kommentary is exactly as billed, a collection of ramblings from several people watching the film. Who are they? Who knows, and it doesn't matter. Like the movie, it's not particularly funny; pass. Party Legends, Pledges and 'Bull'-ies (480p, 15:56) is a terribly basic piece featuring cast and crew speaking about the production, the gags, the actors, and the usual array of tidbits, all intermingled with clips from the film. Ultimate College Party Guide (480P, 5:00) features character Panos Patakos sharing Van Wilder's tips for throwing a great college party. Gwen-ezuma's Revenge (480p, 7:36) shares information on how laxatives work. Testicles of the Animal Kingdom (1080p) is a multiple choice exam that prompts users to choose what testicles belong to what animal. Write That Down (1080p) is a collection of quotes from the film, seen written on a bathroom wall. Blu-Book Exam asks users questions based on clips from the film. Next up is the "Bounce off the Walls" music video by Sugarcult (480p, 2:26), a collection of nine deleted scenes (480p, 8:59), and 12 outtakes (480p, 12:24). Burly TV Specials (480p, 43:58) are Van Wilder-related episodes of "Half Baked," "Imposter," and "Movie Junky." Comedy Central's 'Reel Comedy: National Lampoon' Van Wilder' (480p, 21:08) is an episode of the program featuring Van Wilder. Rounding out this collection of extras is a 1080p trailer for Employee of the Month.

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

In its own little fraternity, National Lampoon's Van Wilder is a perfectly fine film, and fans of raunchy skit-based Comedies with an underlying story line meant to lend a hint of cohesion to the series of gags will enjoy it well enough. Coming out to play with the well-to-do graduates of the genre, however, the film quickly earns itself a failing grade thanks not necessarily to lack of effort but definitely to an absence of originality. Lionsgate's Blu-ray release doesn't do the film any favors, either. Sporting a middling 1080p transfer, a somewhat better lossless soundtrack, and a few extras, fans that don't already own this film on DVD will want to pick it up on sale, but otherwise, this is a skippable release.