"Ask Me About My Weiner!"

Oh man, that line never gets old ...

Saw Accepted last night at a free Universal screening, will get to that review in a minute ... first off though, some other assorted stuff ...

- Ryan Philipe as Harvey Dent in Dark Knight? I don't believe this is 100% confirmed yet, but I have to say I don't know about this one. Philipe is definitely a talented actor, but as far as I know he still has that kind of boyish look and prep-school voice ... not exactly what I picture in Harvey Dent. I gotta side with the internet geeks on this one for now and say that someone like Liev Schrieber or Guy Pierce would have been ideal. Also, I hope they don't overload this movie with too many villains. I don't really see any point when you already have the best villain of all ... the Joker. Harley Quinn in a minor role though ... that I wouldn't object to.

- Speaking of superheroes, I've gotta say that Who Wants to be a Superhero is one heck of a fun show. I've been working with it on I-Tunes, and while the premise is pretty absurd, the show is so earnest and innocent compared to other trashy reality shows that it just has this really addictive, eminently watchable vibe. Stan Lee is perfectly old-school in his role as superhero guru / MC. Take it with a grain of salt, but don't be surprised if it hooks you in.

ACCEPTED Review:

Okay, so this movie has a number of prety funny moments. But those moments are buried within the unsightly framework of a movie mired in cliched mediocrity. For every line that makes you giggle (yes, including the insta-classic "Ask me about my weiner!" line ...), there is a character, a scene, or a moment that is directly lifted from some other, better movie. And most of all, the premise is totally mishandled - what could have been a funny idea - a bunch of college rejects form their own school and pass it off as a legitimate university - is played way too straight.

This premise begs for an absurdist approach ala Wet Hot American Summer. Instead, we get the obligatory scene where our protaganist stands before a board of accreditidation and gives a big speech where he expounds about the merits of his fake college, inciting his students (all of whom, of course, are in attendance) to give a standing ovation. And guess what - wonder of wonders - his speech is so damn moving that the crusty old board members have a change of heart and allow the school to go on! No big spoilers here folks - this movie is by-the-numbers every step of the way, right down to the preppy fratboy villains, the Dean of a rival school with a stick up his ass, and the girl stuck with the wrong guy who breaks up with said guy after he cheats on her and is then won over by our witty, charming, fast-talking main character.

You've seen this same framework in ... oh, I don't know - The Breakfast Club, Old School, American Pie, Animal House, Feris Bueller, Camp Nowhere, and, um, just about every other teen / college / misfit adolescent movie ever made.

Here, though, even the paint-by-numbers stuff just feels kinda off. For example, the movie has a really strong anti-education message that to me was really off-putting. Sure, it's always funny to see Lewis Black (here as a bitter ex-professor) go off on his usual, quiveringly pissed-off, fight-the-man diatribes. But Black's usual stuff is mixed in with this message of "Hey kids, college sucks. You learn a bunch of useless crap when what you should really be learning about is how to slack off and waste time." It'd be funny if this idea was played solely for laughs, but the movie starts to get really preachy in its own weird way and doesn't let up. The capper has to be the big, aforementioned "big speech scene," where Justin Long, as our hero, B, goes on, and on, and on, about why his fabricated college (South Harmon Institute of Technology -- aka S.H.I.T. -- get it? get it?) is actually deserving of being accredited. Again, it would be pretty funny if the course list, including things like "Rocking Out" and "Math-terbation" was just there to be funny, but we're actually supposed to be agreeing with B and saying "yeah, this guy has a point." It's not even like, say, Billy Madison, where Adam Sandler's climactic speech at the end is a satire of other big movie speeches, or in Not Another Teen movie, which also mocked said big speeches (as well as all the other conventions of teen movies ...). Too many elements of Accepted are not played up as absurd or whatever, instead there are way too many sitcom-y moments that would feel more at home on Saved By the Bell: The College Years, than on a big screen, college-comedy.

Still, there is plenty to like here. The side characters in particular have a ton of funny little moments, where the true potential of what this movie COULD have been is glimpsed. There is a lot of comedic talent here in the supporting actors, and its too bad that that talent isn't fully embraced.

So all in all, it's a decently funny movie, but one that's built on a dumb premise that isn't taken to the absurd extremes needed to make it work.

My Grade: C

Alright, I'm out. It's been a crazy day, and I. Am. Outta Heeeeeeeeeeere.