What Does Accepted Reject?

Time now for a movie review. I know that you count on me for all of your non-biased film reporting, and I thank you. Last night I saw the film “Accepted” (click on the movie poster on the left for the IMDB site) with my friend Kate. While this will not become the next “American Pie” franchise, it was decent. The premise is that the main character, Bartleby Gaines (played by Justin Long who you will recognize from “Dodgeball”) has been rejected from every college that he has applied to. So, he creates his own fake college, the South Harmon Institute of Technology" to attend in order to make his parents proud. (note the innitials of his college. That's as creative as an early 90's Van Hallen album.) After creating the first elements of his creative fraud (from a website to even renting out an old psych ward as the school) he has his parents fooled. One thing he didn't expect was for other students to apply and get accepted via the fake website.
The movie is about Gaines keeping his head above water and fighting off things going completely wrong. This film has a PG-13 rating which also means that it isn't as raunchy as a Van Wilder, but does all that it can to get as close to pushing the envelope. Other notable characters in the film are the stuffy dean played by Anthony Heald (who I enjoyed in Boston Public and Red Dragon) and Lewis Black who many know from The Daily Show and stand-up specials. Black plays essentially himself – a bitter man upset with the world and willing to share how frustrated he is with anyone who would listen. Black plays Dean Lewis, the only adult on the staff of the fake college.
The friends of Gaines that assist him with the college are all relatively unknowns. For this being their first major motion picture, their acting abilities were quite good. You even have the fat friend, Sherman Schrader (Played by Jonna Hill). For the first time in a long time, he isn't the stupid, clumsy butt of jokes, but instead Schrader is a smart, loyal friend of Gaines. This was a refreshing change from the standard big, dumb, fat guy routine.
While this movie had it's funny moments, I would recommend it only as a strong rental. It's PG-13 rating may have limited it in where they could go. They probably went with this rating to bring in the standard high school student and increase their movie-goer base. For the high school student, this might be a good appetizer to the greats in college-based movies like “Animal House” and “Porky's,” but it is no where up to their caliber. I am very sick of every movie with a keg and co-eds being said it is the next "Animal House." While it is a new twist on things, it is still the same tired movie of a bunch of college students getting together to fight the system. This route may be a bit more creative than most, but not enough that it isn't something that you haven't seen before. I would not expect a sequel from this film, despite the open ending they gave it. (Don't worry, I won't give away the ending, incase you want to see it.) While this film may reject big crowds in the theaters, it would be a good rental. It is worth it only there. I give this one 2 out of 4 stars.

(Oh, and for the record, the Robin Williams movie “The Night Listener” that was discussed in a previous post only gets ½ a star, because that is the lowest I can give a film according to the AMA rules I'm bound to as a professional movie reviewer. The acting in that film from Robin Williams deserves ½ a star. Everything else keeps it from being a movie worth your time... and your $8.50.)