2002’s “National Lampoon’s Van Wilder” has a score of 18% on Rotten Tomatoes, and, quite frankly, that’s very generous. This is a crude sex comedy that doesn’t have much going for it. The film revolves around Ryan Reynolds’ Van Wilder, a college student in his seventh year who just can’t leave his university. Along the way we get a character from India named Taj Mahal (played by Kumail Nanjiani with a thick accent), a well-endowed bulldog, and a scene involving Van Wilder’s rival that has to be one of the grossest things ever put to film. It’s offensive and disgusting in equal measure.
This was Reynolds’ first major role after coming off the show “Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place,” and, to be fair, he does an admirable job. The movie, however, is horrible. “The film belongs to that dying comedy sub-genre, the gross-out flick,” David Nusair of Reel Film said in a scathing review. “And this one takes things particularly far, forcing characters to eat dog semen. That’d all be fine, if any of this stuff was in the least bit funny.” While Reynolds does his best to make the film enjoyable, his character just isn’t likable. Even those who like a bit of toilet humor will probably find themselves rolling their eyes at this one.
