neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Old School
	Todd Phillips Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, Vince Vaughn, Ellen Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini, Jeremy Piven, Craig Kilborn 2003		The exceedingly inconsistent bonehead comedy "Old School" is spun from the assumption that men of all ages would like nothing more than to join a typically rowdy college fraternity, get drunk and party with hot babes all the time. Even if male camaraderie, intoxication and sexual adventuring are attractive ideas, it's absurd and illogical that any institute of higher learning would legitimize a phony frat house like the one started by the three 30s-ish non-students in "Old School": Luke Wilson's lovelorn lawyer, Vince Vaughn's happily-married appliance-store potentate and Will Ferrell's newlywed loser. Absurd things can be funny, but real laughs are in short supply here. "Old School" profits from an easy-going performance by Vaughn that would do Dean Martin proud, and from the fearless, anything-for-a-laugh attitude of ex-"Saturday Night Live" stalwart Ferrell. Wilson, who scored in the box-office success "Legally Blonde," is used more as a reactor than an actor, seeming like a nonentity for the first time in his career. A personable supporting cast, including Ellen Pompeo, Juliette Lewis, Leah Remini and Jeremy Piven, deserved a better script.