21 and Over

 

The ad campaign for 21 and Over wants us to know that the film is from the writers of The Hangover.  I believe it, as this movie shares much in common with that earlier film.  It also shares much in common with a lot of other teen-centric movies, including Superbad, the American Pie films, Sixteen Candles, and the Harold and Kumar movies.  This is yet another one of those "Mix 'n Match" movies, where the filmmakers seem to have had a marathon screening of other movies before they sat down and wrote the script to this one.

Of course, in a movie like this, you don't need to be original.  You just need to be funny.  And while I did laugh a couple times, I did not laugh nearly enough to save this raunchy little teen comedy.  It has the raunchy part down pat, at least.  This is a movie that dares us to look at slow motion projectile vomiting, as well as a scene where a drunken character eats a tampon, mistaking it for a candy bar.  What it needs are more genuine laughs.  And some characters we can actually like.  The movie does have some funny ideas, but doesn't go far enough with most of them.  For example, as tasteless as it sounds, I'm sure there are some funny things you could do with a guy who has a teddy bear glued to his genitals.  This movie doesn't think of anything.  It just gives us the sight of a guy with a teddy bear stuck over his privates.  That's Step 1.  A truly funny movie would have gone to Step 2, and think of something else to do with it.

The plot (as if it really matters) involves three best friends from high school reuniting when one of them turns 21.  They include all-around party animal Miller (Miles Teller), the more straight-laced Casey (Skylar Astin), and Jeff Chang (Justin Chon), who is the one turning 21.  By the way, should you see this movie, be prepared to hate the name "Jeff Chang" from now on.  The characters refer to him by his full name constantly.  Maybe it's some kind of running gag to have everybody in the movie say the name Jeff Chang over and over and over and over...I never laughed, and it really started to bug me.  Back to the plot - Miller and Casey want to take their friend out drinking for his birthday, but Jeff Chang's scary and overly strict dad (Francois Chau) is on campus to make sure his son attends a medical school interview the next morning.  Regardless, the guys sneak their friend out, and go bar-hopping that night, certain that they can get Jeff Chang back home at a decent time before his dad knows he's gone.

During the course of the night, Jeff Chang consumes more alcohol than any human I think has ever consumed in a single night without winding up dead.  He spends most of the movie passed out, and when he is awake, he's in a drunken stupor and prone to wandering away or stealing cars.  Miller and Casey have to not only keep their friend in line, but find out where he lives, as they have forgotten his address for the sake of plot convenience.  Their misadventures during the night include being chased down by a psychotic Latino sorority, having run ins with very angry and violent male cheerleaders, encountering an escaped buffalo, and lots of college drinking games.  Along the way, there are pauses for "poignant" moments that drag the movie to a complete halt, where the young heroes wonder why they're not as good of friends as they used to be back in high school.  This normally lasts a minute or two, then it's back to the projectile vomiting and the beer pong.

21 and Over makes no bones over what it is - a raunchy teen sex and drinking comedy.  There's nothing wrong with that.  The problem I had is that it's not a very good one.  Save for some scattered laughs and maybe a likable scene or two, there's nothing here that ends up standing out.  Instead of being clever, the movie relies far too much on worn out cliches.  For example, there's a nice girl (Sarah Wright) who helps the guys out from time to time.  Since she's a nice girl, she's naturally dating the film's jerk, who goes out of his way to push the heroes around at every opportunity.  Will she wise up and dump the jerk for one of our young heroes whose been attracted to her from the beginning of the movie?  The answer to this question just may surprise you if you've been living in a cave up to this point.

 

Despite a running time of just over 90 minutes, the movie feels a lot longer than it is, or needs to be.  75 or 80 minutes is all that was needed to tell this story, and even that is stretching it.  There just aren't enough laughs here, and it often mistakes being vile and mean-spirited for being funny.  In other words, no one really needs this movie.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

0 comments