National Lampoon's Van Wilder MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +1 Content: -4

Attempting a return to its ANIMAL HOUSE roots, National Lampoon goes back to school. Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds) has been attending college and avoiding classes for seven years. So busy arranging campus parties that he even has a paid assistant (Kal Penn), who follows him everywhere, Wilder doesnt have time or interest for classes. Vans unique situation piques the curiosity of journalism student Gwen (Tara Reid), who interviews Van for the college newspaper. Gwens first article lambastes Van as being a one-dimensional, perennial party boy and loser. Mortified by the bad publicity, Van insists Gwen follow him around to see what a selfless service he performs for socially-needy students. Predictably, they fall in love and Van graduates. VAN WILDER will titillate the immature and prove with every ticket purchased, the famous P. T. Barnum motto, Theres a sucker born every minute.

Disgusting, gross bathroom humor permeates nearly every scene. One unending crude joke concerns Vans grotesquely sexually endowed dog, culminating in an unbelievable attempt to relieve the poor animal. Equally offensive, Gwens boyfriend (Daniel Cosgrove) has an embarrassing call of nature which he cannot control while in a crucial meeting. In the opening scene, just for laughs, Van appears to be having unconventional sex with an elderly woman. Later, he bribes the sex-starved female dean of admissions by serving her need. Other graphic sex scenes show Gwen and her boyfriend, who later, literally, uses a coed desperate to please him. Always the entrepreneur, Van buys a topless nightclub, featuring pole and lap dancers, to delight his fellow college students. In one scene, young children are taken in to watch the show and served hard liquor. Along with other vulgar language, at least 23 obscenities were counted, including 13 f-words. Cruel, degrading fraternity antics are depicted, especially a scene showing members forcing pledges to serve as croquet hoops, subjecting them to painful hits by the wooden balls. Van also sponsors a campus-wide, naked mile run, which reveals a lot of bare backsides. The only positive comment to make about VAN WILDER is, avoid it.

Preview Reviewer: Mary Draughon
Distributor: Artisan Entertainment, 2700 Colorado Ave., 2nd Fl., Santa Monica, CA 90404