Old School (HD) (2003)

"...blissfully, pants-wettingly funny from beginning to end.  Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com
"...a comedy of infantile regression, "Animal House" for grownups.  David Denby, The New Yorker
"In terms of sheer belly-laugh count, this one's in the same plentiful company as "There's Something About Mary" and "Road Trip."  Desson Thomson, The Washington Post
"Starts out silly, gets sillier by the minute, and frequently had me and most of the people around me in stitches.  Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
"...Ferrell is a fearless comedian, and he commits completely to his insanity in the film, and that makes it work.  Kevin Carr, Film Threat

Editor's Note In Todd Phillips' OLD SCHOOL, Mitch (Luke Wilson), a thirtysomething businessman, has found himself living a boring, mundane lifestyle. Unfortunately for him, his girlfriend, Heidi (Juliette Lewis), has been getting more adventurous on her own, by throwing wild sex parties while he's away. When Mitch catches her in the act, he moves out and takes up residence in a house close to the local university. This prompts his buddies--the newly married Frank (Will Ferrell) and Beanie (Vince Vaughn), a jaded husband, father, and stereo-store tycoon--to throw Mitch a huge party in honor of his renewed single status. Antics at the party lead to the formation of a makeshift fraternity where age and academics don't matter, and Mitch is the reluctant "godfather." But when the university's scheming dean (Jeremy Piven) catches wind of the new fraternity, he becomes determined to stop their fun. Will the boys overcome the dean's sinister plans? Will Mitch find love again? Will Frank please stop running around naked? And, hey, isn't that the cute girl who plays Jack Bauer's daughter on the TV series 24? These questions--and many more--are answered in the giddily fun and unabashedly immature OLD SCHOOL.

	Andy Dick
	Artie Lange
	Craig Kilborn
	Elisha Cuthbert
	Ellen Pompeo
	Jeremy Piven
	Juliette Lewis
	Leah Remini
	Luke Wilson
	Seann William Scott
	Vince Vaughn
	Will Ferrell
	Clark Hunter - Production Designer
	Court Crandall, et. al. - Based On Story By
	Ivan Reitman - Executive Producer
	Mark Irwin - Cinematographer
	Max Biscoe - Art Director
	Michael Jablow - Editor
	Scot Armstrong - Screenplay
	Theodore Shapiro - Original Music By
	Todd Phillips - Producer
	Todd Phillips - Director
	Todd Phillips - Screenplay

New York Times
"...Mr. Ferrell uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part..." 02/21/2003 p.E13

USA Today
"...Luke Wilson is affably low-key..." 02/21/2003 p.14D

Entertainment Weekly
"...Under Reitman's direction, Ferrell lets his freak flag fly and Vaughn unlooses a notably funny, light-on-his-feet lunkheadedness..." 02/28/2003 p.59

Variety
"...Lively....The reliably funny Farrell's periodic party-monster outbursts amuse..." 02/17/2003 p.39-44

Box Office
"...What's funny are the myriad bits and gags and show-stoppers....[An] expertly timed comedy..." 05/01/2003 p.62

Los Angeles Times
"...Wilson has ineffable charm and Ferrell natural comic timing..." 02/21/2003 p.C1

Sight and Sound
"...OLD SCHOOL works best when it combines its belly laughs with a disarming pathos, deriving from its characters' well-sketched sense of confusion over what they want from life..." 07/01/2003 p.54

Film Comment
"...Consistently funny, good hearted..." 07/01/2003 p.77

Total Film
"...Great concept..." 12/01/2003 p.115

Ultimate DVD
"[A] very likeable role swap comedy, with Wilson, Ferrell and Vaughn forming a winning triumvirate as they fire off tautly crafted gags with plenty of belly laughs." 04/01/2008 p.69

FilmCritic.com 8 of 10
Some film ads make promises they can't keep, totally misrepresenting the final product. But the ads for Old School give you a good idea of what you're in for: an old man wrestling with topless coeds in KY Jelly, Will Ferrell in a cougar mascot outfit jumping directly into a hoop of fire, and Vince Vaughn doing an iron cross on rings with a lit cigarette clenched in his lips...The good news is there's way more where that came from, and there's even some absurdity tossed in for the non-T&A, thinking crowd. So regardless of which side of the fence you're on, you'll laugh until you're teary. And every ounce of its comedic success can be attributed to its three stars -- Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Vince Vaughn -- who through talent and chemistry manage to respectably pull off this otherwise ridiculous, often over-the-top comedy...Sure, there are lots of boobs, a blowjob class (watch for who cameos as the instructor), and general beer-guzzling debauchery, but there's also a good amount of wit and complexity in these characters and in the dialogue to keep it interesting. In other words, Old School is exactly as stupid and as clever as it needs to be. - Annette Cardwell

ReelViews 7 of 10
Old School is exactly what director Todd Phillips intends for it to be: low-brow, moronic to a fault, and occasionally side-splittingly funny. I laughed aloud seven or eight times during this film, and smiled or chuckled on a few additional occasions. Admittedly, considering the bawdy, brainless nature of the humor, there were times when I was almost embarrassed to be laughing, but that didn't stop me. In an era when a viewer is lucky to find one or two humorous moments during the course of a 90-minute so-called "comedy," Old School delivers with surprising effectiveness...Like Phillips' earlier effort, Road Trip, and older antecedents along the lines of Animal House, Old School cares little for providing a cohesive narrative or presenting characters. These things are inconsequential devices to move from one joke to the next. If the viewer's intention is to have a few laughs, this movie gets a passing grade. If you're looking for a more complete cinematic experience, Old School has a few too many absences. - James Berardinelli