Old School (2003) - Some fun in low-brow frat house comedy

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Three middle-aged male stars enjoy themselves at a college party on this poster for Todd Phillips' Old School

Frank 'the Tank' Ricard is in his thirties and depressed, when his good buddy Mitch 'the Godfather' Martin suddenly becomes single, and the two decide to start a college fraternity with their old pal Bernard 'Beanie' Campbell.

 

Old School is written by Scot Armstrong (Road Trip (2000)) and great New-Yorker filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Todd Phillips (Road Trip (2000)), with Court Crandall (A Lobster Tale (2006)) contributing story elements.

Luke Wilson (Idiocracy (2006)) as Mitch has a fun scene with Juliette Lewis (Hick (2011)), and Will Ferrell (Land of the Lost (2009)) as Frank has a few of them, too, in a film that's based around a silly idea. But Old School is hampered down by a lot of unfunny stuff in between the good parts, and a bunch of cameos that just don't work.

Related posts:

Todd Phillips: The Hangover Part II (2011) - Phillips & Co. follow up their sensational comedy hit with a disappointing sequel  
Due Date (2010) or, Riding with Tremblay
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]   

The Hangover (2009) - Phillips & Co. hit the mother lode with hilarious crowdpleaser 

 

 

Watch a 3-minute clip from the film here

 

Cost: 24 mil. $

Box office: 87.1 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 3.62 times its cost)

[Old School premiered 13 February (USA) and runs 90 minutes. Shooting took place from January - March 2002 in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #2, behind holdover hit Daredevil, to a 17.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#3), grossing 75.5 mil. $ (86.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 3.6 mil. $ (4.1 %) and Germany with 1.8 mil. $ (2 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1/4 star review, translating to 2 notches under this one. Phillips returned with Starsky & Hutch (2004). Ferrell returned in The Guardian (2003, TV-series) and theatrically in Elf (2003); Vince Vaughn (Wedding Crashers (2005)) in I Love Your Work (2003); and Wilson in Alex & Emma (2003). Old School is fresh at 60 % with a 5.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Old School?

I Love You, Man (2009) - Rudd, Segel and others achieve laughs aplenty in Hamburg's feel-good bromance

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The sweet mugs of the three endearing stars of John Hamburg's I Love You, Man sell the film all on their own

Peter is a middle-aged, engaged man, whose fiancée thinks it's a problem that he doesn't have any real friends of his own or a best man. This makes him seek out 'man-dates' for a friend and best man, until he meets the eccentric Sydney Fife, a cougar-chasing bachelor, who owns a 'man-cave'.

I Love You, Man is the 3rd feature from great New-Yorker co-writer-director John Hamburg (Along Came Polly (2004)), based on a script by Larry Levin (Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001)). Rashida Jones (Cuban Fury (2014)) as Peter's fiancée and her girlfriends are a bit taxing at first, (but it is purposeful), and the film has a vomiting scene with Jon Favreau (Chef (2014)) as the sprayed victim that is incredibly (overly) gross.
But you should disregard these minor drawbacks, because I Love You, Man is also perhaps 2009's funniest film: Paul Rudd (Knocked Up (2007)) and Jason Segel (New Jersey Turnpikes (1999)) as the two budding friends develop a relationship that involves much hilarity, and in particular Rudd is funnier and dopier here than he has ever been before.
I Love You, Man also has a substantial list of funny side characters (Thomas Lennon (Lethal Weapon (2017), TV-series) and Lou Ferrigno (Ping! (2000)) stand out) and is also commendable for its total acceptance of homosexuals, (Andy Samberg (Take the 10 (2017)) plays Peter's gay brother), which is just an added, extra quality of this feel-good comedy, which is a bit of a laugh riot and is also a love-letter to Los Angeles.

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 91.6 mil. $
= Minor flop
[I Love You, Man premiered 13 March (Austin, Texas' South by Southwest Film Festival) and runs 104 minutes. Hamburg based his script on Levin's which was a broader and less adult in tone and written 11 years before the film went into production. Shooting took place in California, almost entirely in Los Angeles, from April - May 2008. Rock band Rush appears in a live show performance in the film and were pleased with their inclusion in the film. The film opened #2, behind Knowing, to a 17.8 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 2 weeks (#4; #5) and grossed 71.4 mil. $ (77.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 6.8 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Australia with 3.4 mil. $ (3.7 %). The film had a home video sale of more than 22 mil. $, which, if counted into the equation, would make it count as a box office success. I Love You, Man is certified fresh at 84 % with a critical average of 6.9/10 at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of I Love You, Man?