National Lampoon's Van Wilder Blu-ray features poor video and solid audio in this poor Blu-ray release
You'll never think of bulldogs, pastries, protein shakes or tutors in the same way
again....National Lampoon's Van Wilder stars Ryan Reynolds as a 7th-year student who has no
plans to graduate. Life is good for Van; he's got a coed in every closet and a party to go to
every night. His slick reputation even catches the eye of sexy Gwen Pearson (Tara Reid), an
on-campus reporter determined to expose the naked truth behind his wild exterior. When Gwen
enters his life and his father stops paying for his tuition, could Van's days as the king of
Coolidge College be over? Find out for yourself in this outrageous laugh-fest that you're sure to
go "nuts" over!
We'll be accepting donations in the form of cash, Visa, and full-frontal nudity.
The above quote is the perfect summation of the soulless Comedy National Lampoon's Van
Wilder, a dull collection of raunchy gags strung together by a coherent but otherwise
generalized plot that ensures only plenty of wild party scenes, innuendo, gross-out visual and verbal
gags, and, yes, gratuitous full-frontal nudity. Attempting to mold itself into the next great College
Comedy and join the fraternity of classics like Revenge of the Nerds and National
Lampoon's Animal House, Van Wilder falls flat at every turn, whether in its futile
attempts at originality or its thoroughly formulaic and recycled story lines and jokes. Granted, this
is par for the course for a gross-out Comedy, but it becomes clear early on that Van Wilder
is raunchy only for the sake of being raunchy; then again, it's almost impossible to criticize it too
harshly considering that it obviously accomplishes what it sets out to do.
This is your brain on 'Van Wilder.'
Seventh-year undergraduate Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds, The Proposal), a
student renowned for everything but academics, has finally had his tuition money revoked by his
wealthy but disappointed father (Tim Matheson). Desperate to maintain the status quo, Van is
able to set up a payment plan with the school but must find a way of generating income without
actually slaving away at a real job (not to mention attending class). He and his personal assistant
Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Kal Penn, Harold & Kumar Go to White
Castle) concoct a scheme that keeps Van in school -- for the time being. Meanwhile,
student reporter Gwen Pearson (Tara Reid, Urban Legend) is
tasked with penning an article on the seven-year wonder, and her piece proves enough of a
success that she's given the opportunity for a follow-up column bound for the front page of the
paper's graduation issue. Van and Gwen slowly see past each other's superficialities and develop
a relationship that seems headed towards something more than a platonic acquaintance, much
to the chagrin of Gwen's jealous and ambitious boyfriend Richard (Daniel Cosgrove) who
puts Van Wilder in his crosshairs, resulting in a series of tit-for-tat maneuvers that will spell the
end for one of them at Coolidge College.
Aside from a stale and by-the-number plot, Van Wilder is populated with forgettable
characters, no particularly memorable scenes, and no classic one-liners, a trio of certain
deathblows
for any Comedy of this sort. There's no Bluto, Flounder, or Dean Wormer; no guitar-smashing,
dead
horse, or crashed parade; and no "you guys playing cards?," "was it over when the Germans
bombed Pearl Harbor?," or "zero-point-zero." Then again, Animal House is the king of
College Comedies; the problem isn't that Van Wilder can't match or surpass it, it's that
the
film simply tries too hard to recapture the same magic for a new generation and fails at every
turn. It never can decide if it is its own creature or a recycled jumble of College films past; while
some of the humor may be original to an extent (and not particularly funny), the overreaching
plot elements -- student trying to stay in school so he can continue on in the party scene, bad
boy and good girl falling for one another, and student taking seriously one last chance to pull
himself together in hopes of staying in school and graduating -- are nothing new, and the
staleness of it all, intermixed with one gross-out visual or verbal gag after another that, at best,
elicit a few hearty chuckles, hardly make Van Wilder anything more than a curiosity, a
pointless exercise in filmmaking that aims for the lowest common denominator, a target this film
precisely hits.
National Lampoon's Van Wilder's 1080p, 1.85:1-framed transfer is in need of some
remedial work. A soft, listless image from beginning to end, this one never inspires confidence -- let
alone engenders a sense of high definition visual bliss -- and it is bested by a sound yet
unremarkable
uncompressed soundtrack at every turn. Within the transfer's generally murky confines, colors
range from disappointingly dim to overzealously bright. Fine detail is decent at-a-glance but falls
generally flat and unnatural upon further scrutiny, another victim of the transfer's unfortunate dim
and dull presentation. A hockey scene in chapter eight is particularly atrocious; fuzzy, hazy,
indistinct, devoid of sparkling color, and packed with random artifacts, the scene is the worst the
film has to offer but also representative of most of the problems scattered throughout. Also
appearing are speckles, a touch of edge enhancement, and minor blocking and banding. Flesh tones
are waxy and unnatural, and blacks never deliver truly inky and distinct shadows. National
Lampoon's Van Wilder's transfer disappoints in nearly every facet.
National Lampoon's Van Wilder belts out a good but not particularly memorable PCM 7.1
uncompressed soundtrack. Dialogue in a general sense is strong and pleasing enough, though
voice-over monologues tend to feature an unnatural low end accompanying presence.
Instrumental music enjoys
solid clarity across the front, while some of the more aggressive Rock numbers are
particularly impressive with a flowing and strong presence through the trio of front channels.
Likewise, music enjoys a subtle surround sound accompaniment, and the track features several
decent but not necessarily immersive directional and spatial effects, particularly in chatty campus
shots and party scenes filled with students seemingly shuffling and speaking about the entirety of
the soundstage. All said, Van Wilder's lossless soundtrack isn't particularly noteworthy, but
it
gets the job done in every necessary facet, besting the mediocre video presentation and making for
the strongest aspect of this otherwise paltry Blu-ray presentation.
National Lampoon's Van Wilder enrolls on Blu-ray with a course load of extras that's
great
in length but short on substance. Drunken Idiot Kommentary is exactly as billed, a
collection of ramblings from several people watching the film. Who are they? Who knows, and it
doesn't matter. Like the movie, it's not particularly funny; pass. Party Legends, Pledges and
'Bull'-ies (480p, 15:56) is a terribly basic piece featuring cast and crew speaking about the
production, the gags, the actors, and the usual array of tidbits, all intermingled with clips from
the film. Ultimate College Party Guide (480P, 5:00) features character Panos Patakos
sharing Van Wilder's tips for throwing a great college party. Gwen-ezuma's Revenge
(480p, 7:36) shares information on how laxatives work. Testicles of the Animal Kingdom
(1080p) is a multiple choice exam that prompts users to choose what testicles belong to what
animal. Write That Down (1080p) is a collection of quotes from the film, seen written on
a bathroom wall. Blu-Book Exam asks users questions based on clips from the film.
Next up is the "Bounce off the Walls" music video by Sugarcult (480p, 2:26), a collection of nine
deleted scenes (480p, 8:59), and 12 outtakes (480p, 12:24). Burly TV Specials (480p,
43:58) are Van Wilder-related episodes of "Half Baked," "Imposter," and "Movie Junky."
Comedy
Central's 'Reel Comedy: National Lampoon' Van Wilder' (480p, 21:08) is an episode of the
program featuring Van Wilder. Rounding out this collection of extras is a 1080p trailer
for Employee of the
Month.
In its own little fraternity, National Lampoon's Van Wilder is a perfectly fine film, and fans of
raunchy skit-based Comedies with an underlying story line meant to lend a hint of cohesion to the
series of gags will enjoy it well enough. Coming out to play with the well-to-do graduates of the
genre, however, the film quickly earns itself a failing grade thanks not necessarily to lack of effort
but definitely to an absence of originality. Lionsgate's Blu-ray release doesn't do the film any favors,
either. Sporting a middling 1080p transfer, a somewhat better lossless soundtrack, and a few
extras, fans that don't already own this film on DVD will want to pick it up on sale, but otherwise,
this is a skippable release.
Blu-ray bundles with National Lampoon's Van Wilder (1 bundle)
