Accepted (2006)

Genre

Comedy

Director

Steve Pink

Country

USA

Cast

Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Adam Herschman, Columbus Short Maria Thayer, Lewis Black, Blake Lively, Mark Derwin, Ann Cusack, Hannah Marks, Robin Lord Taylor, Diora Baird, Joe Hursley, Jeremy Howard, Anthony Heald, Travis Van Winkle, Kaitlin Doubleday, Sam Horrigan, Ross Patterson, Artie Baxter, Kellan Lutz, Brendan Miller, Ray Santiago, Greg Sestero, Ned Schmidtke, Jim O'Heir, Darcy Shean

Storyline

After being rejected from every college he applied, Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) creates his own institution of higher learning, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, on a rundown piece of property near his hometown.

Opinion

I don't remember watching this film before yesterday, but I have had this seen-it-all-before feeling throughout the whole film. So either I've seen it ages ago and forgot about it - but to be honest that never happens to me - or "Accepted" is just another college movie that uses the same formula that has been plugged into summer comedies since dawn of time. If I were to guess, I'd go with the second.

Anyway, the story is a little different than usual - a high school kid creates his own college just to impress his parents. But it's also kind of ridiculous and unbelievable. And predictable. And it has some troubles deciding between being an inspirational piece or a party movie. But it does manage to blend those two aspects of the story quite well and the inspirational part is very well done. 

The screenplay isn't particularly good, but it does offer some funny dialogue, unevenly balanced with a lot of cheap gags. It also offers no character development at all, and characters that aren't really characters, just stereotypes. But, while some are annoying and unnecessary, some others are slightly interesting and kind of fun to watch on screen.

But seriously, who cares about all that when the film is just supposed to be a stupid comedy. I kinda had a good time after all, some of the jokes are laugh-out-loud funny, and even though I wound't watch it again, it was worth seeing once.