Old School [2003]

Will Ferrell
Ellen Pompeo

Director

Todd Phillips

Jovial comedy Old School sees three thirtysomething friends with woman troubles (Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn) deciding to form a college fraternity. It's supposedly to save Wilson from losing his house, which the nearby college is trying to claim for academic purposes, but really Ferrell and Vaughn are desperate to return to the reckless, feckless days of beer bongs and hot chicks, and they drag Wilson along with them as they throw themselves into gathering frat pledges of all ages. Old School could have been just another string of bad jokes hanging on a flimsy plot, but the script and the cast have energy and just enough grounding in reality--at least, up until the obligatory beat-the-system ending, but by that point you'll forgive the excesses of this silly, cheerful, and frequently funny movie. Featuring Jeremy Piven and Juliette Lewis, with cameos by Snoop Dog, Andy Dick, and others. --Bret Fetzer