''College'' is a 2008 American
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
starring
Drake Bell
Jared Drake Bell (born June 27, 1986) is an American actor, singer, songwriter, and musician. Born in Newport Beach, California, he began his career as an actor in the early 1990s at the age of five with his first televised appearance on ''Hom ...
,
Andrew Caldwell, and
Kevin Covais
Kevin Patrick Covais (; born May 30, 1989) is an American actor, singer and songwriter. He was a finalist on the fifth season of ''American Idol''. Covais appeared in the films ''College'' and '' Transformers: Age of Extinction,'' and television ...
and directed by first-time director Deb Hagan. It was released on August 29, 2008, by
MGM
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 a ...
. The story follows three high school seniors, who spend the weekend visiting Fieldmont University for freshman orientation, and get involved in various antics. The film garnered negative reviews from critics and grossed $6 million worldwide against its $7 million budget.
Plot
After Kevin, a high school senior, is dumped by his girlfriend Gina for being too boring, he does not want to go to the freshman orientation weekend at Fieldmont University, which they had planned to attend together. However, Kevin's best friends Carter and Morris convince him that the weekend away will help get his mind off her, having been told by their friend Fletcher about a weekend visiting his brother at college in which he got laid by three college chicks at once. This convinces Kevin to go to Fieldmont for the freshmen orientation to prove to his ex-girlfriend that he can be fun instead of boring. Once they are there, one of the rowdiest fraternities on campus pretends to recruit them as pledges in return for granting them access to the college party scene. Though forced to put up with the disgusting antics of fraternity brothers Teague, Bearcat, and Cooper, the guys meet sorority girls Kendall, Heather, and Amy, and sparks fly. But once Teague feels threatened by Kevin's new relationship with Kendall, who once dated Teague, he takes the pre-frosh humiliation to a greater level and make their lives miserable and start bullying them out of their college. The guys decide to fight back and get payback for ruining their weekend, and Morris's college scholarship, and Kevin's chance to attend Fieldmont. During the climax, Teague is arrested, Bearcat is superglued to a toilet, and Cooper is duct taped to a statue naked. After Kevin sent Gina a video of him having fun at a party at Fieldmont, she asks him to get back together with her, but he refuses. Kevin tells his friends about a new college weekend they can visit; Morris is being punished by his parents for messing up his college scholarship, but he says he can sneak out. All three of them decide to go.
Cast
Production
Many of the scenes of the actors at university are filmed on the campus of
Tulane University
Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...
in
and
Grace King High School
Grace King High School is a public high school located in Metairie, unincorporated Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, United States. It is a part of the Jefferson Parish Public Schools and serves portions of Metairie and Kenner. in
Metairie in January 2007.
Release
Reception
''College'' was panned by critics. Review aggregate
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
holds it at a approval rating, based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus reads: "A pale imitation of the raunchy frat comedies of old, ''College'' aims low and misses." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film scored a 15 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "overwhelming dislike".
Gary Goldstein of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' criticized the "grab-bag script" for emphasizing vulgar humor and bad taste over "wit, charm and originality", calling it "a tedious, by-the-numbers raunch-fest that exists strictly because it can." Marc Savlov of ''
The Austin Chronicle
''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...
'' found the film "so persistently loud and annoying that it single-handedly makes the case for drugging yourself with a roofie, Nembutal, and GHB cocktail (add bitters to taste) prior to entering the theatre." ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
''s
Owen Gleiberman
Owen Gleiberman (born February 24, 1959) is an American film critic who has been chief film critic for ''Variety'' magazine since May 2016, a title he shares with . Previously, Gleiberman wrote for ''Entertainment Weekly'' from 1990 until 2014. ...
rated the movie with a "C−" grade, saying "Friendly yet toothless, ''College'' musters little energy even as anarchic-party-movie nostalgia."
Nathan Rabin
Nathan Rabin (; born April 24, 1976) is an American film and music critic. Rabin was the first head writer for ''The A.V. Club'', a position he held until he left the ''Onion'' organization in 2013. of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' gave it a "D−" rating, saying "
's a joyless misfire determined to deliver the time-tested staples of the college comedy in the most perfunctory, least satisfying manner imaginable."
Box office
The film was released on August 29, 2008, in 2,123 theaters. It made
US$
The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
2.6 million over the
Labor Day
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United St ...
weekend. The film has grossed an estimated $4.7 million in the U.S. and Canada and $1.6 million in other territories for a total gross of $6.3 million worldwide.
DVD release
The film was released on Region 1 DVD on January 27, 2009. The DVD includes both the Theatrical and Unrated versions of the film as well as a Gag Reel.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:College (2008 Film)
2008 films
2008 comedy films
2008 directorial debut films
2000s American films
2000s English-language films
2000s teen comedy films
American comedy films
Films about fraternities and sororities
Films set in universities and colleges
Films shot in New Orleans
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer films