East Carolinian

Issue date: 9/4/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: mct

College

The Bad
The movie focuses on three friends who visit college for a weekend in hopes of getting hammered-drunk and having lots of sex. Oh, and one of them has an interview for a scholarship, just to add some depth. This movie is packed full of up and coming actors, including Drake Bell, Andrew Caldwell and a cameo by Vern Troyer of Mini Me Fame. I liked this movie the first time around when it was called Superbad. There is the chubby kid (Caldwell), The cool-headed one (Bell), and of course the first time actor who steals the spotlight playing the skinny geek. (Kevin Covais)

The Ugly
The film was packed full of homophobic attempts at comedy, pulled off unsuccessfully with a zest of gross humor found in so many "teen-oriented" films of today. It was obvious the producers of College did whatever they could to get this film an "R" rating, in hopes of pulling some money at the box office, when it is obvious that this should be a straight to DVD movie.

The Good
You get to see Drake Bell wear girls' clothes, which might actually be normal.

Verdict: If you are going to see a movie for laughs, definitely skip this one. Just pop in "Superbad."

Tropic Thunder

The Bad
Amidst the controversy surrounding this film, Ben Stiller, Jack Black and Robert Downey Jr. create the star-studded cast of Tropic Thunder who all portray a group of actors on the set of a seemingly typical military movie. The director has trouble getting them into character so he sets them out on a "mission" to find the essence of war. The actors believe that hidden cameras are capturing their antics as they deliver their lines in the jungle. Stiller ends up going off by himself and getting captured as the other's slowly realize they are not in a movie and they have to save their fellow actor. In the end, they all come to some sort of personal conclusion.

The Ugly
This was not the worst movie of the summer, but it definitely was close. You know when all the funny parts are in the commercials and when you go to see the movie, the rest is not as good? That is exactly what happens in this film, but just when you think it cannot get any worse, Tom Cruise makes a cameo. The most talked about cameo of the year is built up to be nothing more than bad acting, which almost ruins anything remotely funny done by the rest of the cast. If you stick to what you know about Cruise, you will know that he is just not a comedic actor. Playing the role of Les Grossman, a balding plump Hollywood producer whose agenda spans no more than making the big bucks, Cruise takes what might have been a great comeback role and falls miserably short. Remember, there is a reason he does not play many comedy roles, or is not working much in Hollywood nowadays.

In the meantime, Black just seemed to be in the background just to give the movie comedy credentials from someone who already knows the genre. His character has potential to be funny, but with the lack of adequate screen time, the character Black portrays, misses the mark and in that case, Black seems more like a drug addict in real life than he does in the film. I am a huge fan of Black and that was a large reason I wanted to see this movie. However, just in the case of Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny, I was fooled again into thinking that Black could take a cruddy movie and make it a comedic masterpiece.

The Good
Downey Jr. stole the screen with his performance as a dude playing a dude inside another dude. I would not mind seeing Downey Jr. getting more comedic roles. He can definitely sell himself as a comedian and a serious actor. Overall, the best part of the movie had to be the fake trailers that segue way into the actual film, or the film within the film.

Verdict: It is a movie worth seeing, but wait for it to hit the fiver-dollar bin at Wal-Mart or catch it on HBO.

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