Accepted
Starring: Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Blake Lively, Lewis Black
Director: Steve Pink
Genre: Comedy
Duration: 1hr 32mins
Rated: PG-13 for language, sexual material and drug content.
Plot: High school senior Bartleby “B” Gaines is on his way to scoring eight out of eight rejection letters from colleges, which isn’t going to go over big with Mom and Dad. At least he’s not alone in the exclusion. Several of his crew of outcast friends are in the same, college-less boat. So how does a guy facing a bleak career please his parents and get noticed by dream girl Monica? Simple. Open his own college!

My review: College humor movies are always good for a fun time, so I figured I’d give Accepted a try. The story isn’t anything completely novel and mind blowing. You’ve got a college aged guy, semi-slacker, with big hopes of winning the girl and having a good time while he’s doing it. The plot is completely absurd and takes huge leaps over impossible chasms of reality but you’re likely not going into this movie looking for a solid, logical story. What makes up for the loopy plot is a lot of very funny moments and great one liners. A lot of the characters are typical of this sort of movie, but they still manage to make plenty of entertaining scenes. Too bad they didn’t spend as much on screenwriters as they did on their comedy writers.

The cast of Accepted seems like a perfect fit and they all work together very well. Justin Long continues in his customary role of displaced youth with lots of ambition (Justin Long is also starring in the blockbuster Live Free or Die Hard - read our review). Long does a pretty decent job in this movie and has plenty of his own funny moments, but doesn’t really have a chance for anything stellar. There’s a notable performance by rising star, Jonah Hill, who can also be found in the great comedy, Knocked Up (read our review) who does a commendable job of playing Justin’s long time buddy. I’m really starting to enjoy Hill’s work and am anxious to see his upcoming movie, Super Bad. To round out the young stars you’ve got veteran comedian Lewis Black who plays a completely unedited Lewis Black. It’s really just him up there on screen doing his shaky hands and agitated views on society. I’ve always enjoyed his stand up routines, so I didn’t mind his performance just being a rehash of everything you’ve seen from him before.

While Accepted is no Old School, which it desperately tries to be, it’s still an enjoyable movie with plenty of funny moments. You won’t find anything new or surprising here in its 92 minute run, but if you’ve got that much free time I’d still lightly recommend it as a brief mind-vacation from the more serious movies out there.

My rating: 2.5/5 stars
High point: Hilarious one-liners
Low point: Overly silly plot

Accepted Movie Trailer:

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