Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj

Released: 12/01/06

Viewed: 10:35 pm 12/01/06

Starring: Kal Penn, Lauren Cohan, Daniel Percival, Glen Barry, Anthony Cozens, Steven Rathman, Holly Davidson

Directed by: Mort Nathan

MGM - Official Site of the Movie

Since when is going to England a good idea for a sequel? Franchises do it all the time and I’d say that Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj rests somewhere between Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London and Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo. But at least those two movies had the good sense to have returning stars. Van Wilder 2 was missing a lot but it misses nothing more than it’s namesake.

Kal Penn is a likeable and funny actor but he is not Ryan Reynolds. They can make him say “Write that down� as much as they want, but it’ll never be the same as it was when Van Wilder mentored us all on how to live life and get laid. Reynolds is a rare breed of confidence and comedy that few actors can pull off. He’s likeable-cocky, and how often is that done well these days by an actor under 30? (See Bill Murray or Chevy Chase 25 years ago, Vince Vaughn in anything, or Justin Long in this years Accepted.)

Van Wilder 2 will live in its big brothers shadow because of the strength if Reynolds’ character, but can it survive on its own? The two movies have a lot in common from setting, to crudeness, to even the finer points of the plot like a smug rival and a leading lady who is the only one surprised when she’s charmed out of her pants by the bad boy. Beyond that, the two films choose different comedy classics as guidelines for their plots, and plagiaries ‘til it hurts.

Van Wilder went the Back to School route. You have this main character that really shouldn’t be there but does everything he has to so he can stay in school. The movie ends with marathon testing and the hero getting the girl. I think the party liaison angle as well as the newspaper article being written on Van by his love interest Gwen, offer enough distinctiveness that the movie isn’t a complete wash of unoriginality. And even though they were lifting a lot from movies far better than them, the movie comes together and has as much heart as it does naked breasts.

If only its sequel could get its head out of the toilet long enough to realize that THAT’s what made the original Van Wilder worth viewing in the first place. It’s our faults really. Ask anyone that loves the original film what it is that they remember and you’ll get answers like: The “éclair� scene. The “diarrhea in the trashcan� scene. The “Taj and Naomi (That’s “I MOAN� backwards)� sex scene. Those are the moments we remember but it’s the heart that made Van Wilder a complete film and not just an assembly of vulgarity. Because if you take all of that out, do you know what you’ve got? Van Wilder 2.

The sequel takes Taj to England where the most successful and admired fraternity on campus banishes him to be the head of The Barn - the least successful and admired fraternity on campus. Taj finds himself ruling a house of rejects. To raise their spirits, and his own chances of getting laid (even though the hottest girl in the movie, Holly Davidson, is one of those rejects), Taj enters The Barn in… God I don’t even know what they were calling it. It was the House Cup or the Head of the Greek Counsel Competition. Something like that. But it doesn’t matter. We all know what it is. Whatever they were calling it, it involved them being in a competition with all the other fraternities on campus. Enter Van Wilder 2’s rip-off movie - Revenge of the Nerds

The only substantial plot point that separates Van Wilder 2 from its predecessor is the underdog vs. current champs competition that’s lifted from classics like Revenge of the Nerds. I’m ok with that though. I like tournament competitions where the little guy is about to loose, then suddenly turns things around by using their special abilities to get the underhand and win out the day! But Van Wilder 2 sleepwalks through it and when it finally comes down to Van and his advisory Pipp (played by Daniel Percival who makes Van Wilder’s nemesis Daniel Cosgrove look like Laurence Olivier) in the final battle, you could care less who wins. The only reason you’re still there is because you’re a glutton for punishment, you’re asleep, or you’re still hoping they might show another boob.

Van Wilder 2 has about half a dozen laughs and some of their vulgarity is actually pretty well done. I thought Taj’s father would be a one-note stereotype but he rules his scenes with ease. I’d say he even bested Eugene Levy’s performance when the exact same “parent-walks-in-on-kids-having-sex� scene occurred in American Pie 2. But they rely to heavily on laughs to propel the movie along. The romance between Taj and Charlotte (Lauren Cohen, perhaps the most likeable and natural piece of this film) becomes secondary, and the flirtatious rivalry develops into a dry humping session in the woods a bit too quickly.

I like Kal Penn, and he’s played confident characters in the past well, but isn’t able to make it work with Taj in the lead. With his accent and mock cockiness I couldn’t help but think of John O'Hurley every time he opened his mouth. He has the same over confidence and stink of self-satisfaction that just make you feel sorry for the character because it’s so unnatural. Something Ryan Reynolds didn’t need to force in the original film.

That’s just another distinction between the two. In both movies Taj’s main goal is to get laid. Van Wilder never gave off that vibe. I never got the impression that he was hard up for sex or had trouble finding it. He’s a pro. Hey… PRO. And that’s why Van Wilder 2 should rest on it’s own laurels. Be it’s own film. Because it’s not a sequel, it’s a spin-off. Taj isn’t Van Wilder, he’s his own man. And in separating the two the studio might loose a few dollars on recognition, but at least the fans can more easily separate the filth from the fun.

Rating: 3 out of 10 -.This movie was a real disappointment considering how much I enjoyed the first film. I think it comes down to the character of Taj not being strong enough to carry his own movie. There’s a reason why whenever you see Robin he’s always with Batman - because a 12-year-old in bright yellow tights isn’t fun to watch for an hour and a half. Neither is a horny stereotype.

No. Having this movie sit on my shelf next to the original Van Wilder, its wiser and funnier older brother, goes against everything I believe in as a movie fan, an American, and a human being. Now, the movie has boobs and boobs are good, so if that’s your thing then Van Wilder 2 is worth a rental. But if you like to laugh bring a back up movie. Or a clown. Or both.

Featuring: Revenge of the Nerds - The ultimate underdog fraternity comeback belongs to the Tri-Lams when they took down the Alpha Betas in the 1984’s classic Revenge of the Nerds. The movie embraced its underdoggedness by making its unlikely heroes a group of socially inept nerds. From thick glasses to nose pickers to the oddly effeminate, every nerd stereotype is accounted for.

I used to fear movies like this that defined the genres of geekdom because the more they put on screen the closer they got to my category. But these movies taught us that being a nerd, geek or dork is nothing to be ashamed of. This was the early 80’s afterall when John Cusak was a nerd, so if anything it tells us that the underdog can eventually accomplish anything. Even making out with Kate Beckinsale

The Rise of Taj mirrors Revenge of the Nerds in its fraternity set-up pitting snobs versus rejects in games for some sort of grand prize. It’s an old formula that’s been done time and time again, but few are as memorable as Revenge of the Nerds. Certainly not Van Wilder 2.

Featuring: Black Christmas - Earlier this week I called Turistas the last horror movie of the year, and learning a day later about Black Christmas makes me not want to retract that statement at all. Technically, yes, Black Christmas (another remake with a hip young cast of barely legal cuties) is a horror movie, but from the looks of it Christmas is scary in the same way the remake of When a Stranger Calls is scary. Loud noises, dark shadows with scary cats, that sort of thing.

I could be completely wrong but I’ve got 1 dollar right now that says this movie is more about its stars screaming than it is about why they’re supposed to be screaming in the first place. Truth is I like Lacey Chabert and Michelle Trachtenberg, and the premise of a crazy guy coming back to the home he killed his family in years ago isn’t completely unappealing. But I could be way off. Don’t be naughty for the next 3 weeks and you never know, we might get a nice scare for Christmas this year.

I hope you guys like the new layout of the review section. The comic section usually gets all of my attention in terms of aesthetics but I thought it was time to spruce up the undercarriage of this set up. Wow, that sounded creepy. It’s a work in progress and I’ll be fine tuning it over the next couple of weeks. It’s my hope that the new format will spotlight the sections a little better and not make the review as a whole look so daunting.

A lot of people could care less about what I have to say about Van Wilder 2’s connection to Revenge of the Nerds, and now that it’s clearly defined it’s easy to just breeze past that sort of thing. I want the review to be as important as the comic and this is a step in the right direction. Step 2: learn how to spell. Step 3: get credible taste in movies.

Don’t forget to check out my continued guest strips at Joe and Monkey. It’ll be fun. Bring a clown just in case.

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