[IMDB link] [Netflix link] We watched this at Evan‘s parent’s cabin in December.
PEOPLE: Directed by John Landis (The Kentucky Fried Movie, The Blues Brothers, An American Werewolf In London, Thriller, Coming To America), and staring John Belushi. John Belushi! John Belushi! We don’t need to go any farther than this, tho I will say this was Kevin Bacon’s film premiere. He spent the money in a week.
QUIRKS: A total college party movie. Girls, beer, and douchey authority figures. And of course a good deal of physical comedy too. Also, the IMDB trivia for this movie is more interesting than usual. It was originally going to be called “Laser Orgy Girls”?!?!?! And yes, they got in a real fight with real frat boys (after being INVITED to party with them so that they could study their parts for the movie). Wow.
VISUALS: Yes, in the form of nudity. :) But this is mostly a party movie, not a sex movie.
MORALS: I’m not really sure there was a moral to the story, other than it is possible to triumph over douchebags.
BAD STUFF: Well, the movie is from 1978, so it looks a bit dated at times. But not nearly as much as I would have imagined. At first I tried to convince Evan not to watch it, because I felt it would be dated. But no. The subject matters covered are pretty timeless. So it’s a stretch to even call this “bad stuff”.
CONCLUSION: This is a classic 5-star comedy movie that everyone should see. I was wrong to underestimate it. It turns out my appreciation for this movie — which I’ve seen several times before, but didn’t remember — has grown considerably over the past decade.
RECOMMENDATION: If you like college party movies, this is a MUST SEE. Also, don’t forget to watch the DVD extras. They have all the actors from the movie, in character, discussing what they are doing these days. Evan & I were both pleasantly surprised at just how entertaining that was. DVD Extras are improving; they’re doing more “mockumentary” type stuff these days — straight interviews can be kind of boring.
SIMILAR MOVIES: I’d actually say that Revenge Of The Nerds 1 shares a lot of traits with this film.
MOVIE QUOTE: Dean Vernon Wormer: “The time has come for someone to put his foot down. And that foot is me.”
FRIENDS’ RATINGS: Evan, Glen, Wayne, and Christian D loved it. Ian and Benj liked it.
Mood: moodlessness
Music: Ministry – Black Betty
March 17, 2009 at 2:45 PM
[…] National Lampoon’s Animal House […]
July 20, 2009 at 5:16 PM
I was gonna say it ranks right up there with revenge of the nerds, but you already went there.
July 21, 2009 at 12:44 PM
Great movie, total classic. Glad you liked it!
July 20, 2010 at 4:25 PM
[…] star Miriam Flynn (Vacation/Vegas Vacation/Christmas Vacation), Stephen Furst (Kent Dorfman from Animal House, Sorority Boys), Mews Small (Man On The Moon), Shelley Smith, Zane Buzby (who was hilarious) […]
April 5, 2011 at 7:07 AM
[…] CONCLUSION: This movie is so awful it’s hard to even follow. I believe we even fast forwarded through a couple of the montage scenes. Really, this was utter trash. I try watch every low-grade/National Lampoon/college comedy movie that exists, and this is pretty much the worst one I’ve ever seen in my life. This movie made Sex Pot look like Animal House. […]