By Darren Young
Sometimes being a slacker can have its perks. Though there are obvious flaws with being lazy, what with the failure and inevitable weight-gain, during lengthy periods of lethargy slackers have been known to concoct ingenious plans to fix the messes they have gotten themselves into. In Accepted, Bartleby Gaines opens up his own post-secondary institute to do just that.
After failing to get accepted into college, Gaines (played by the now infamous “Mac Guy” Justin Long) decides it would be in his best interest to forge an acceptance letter for a fake institute known as the South Harmon Institute of Technology. Bartleby fools his parents into believing the validity of the school and seemingly gets away with his clever scheme until an enormous crowd gathers on his makeshift campus for “orientation.” It seems that due to a serious error in judgement, hundreds of college wannabes have been permitted to attend the school after finding an option Gaines put on its website that says “acceptance is just one click away.” Together, Bartleby and the other students at SHIT develop their own method of learning–complete with plenty of neo-Animal House antics.
This idea, of course, is merely an extension of the regular low-brow humour one might expect from the studio that brought the American Pie movies to life. The difference is that Accepted tends to succeed in the areas where American Pie faltered. For example, no one has sex with a dessert in order to generate laughs. Accepted is genuinely funny, and though the plot may seem a bit absurd, the humour often edges dangerously close to intelligent. Furthermore, all the actors have a fantastic sense of timing, which enhances comic effect. Justin Long is comfortable as the quick-witted Gaines, as is his equally sharp counterpart Jonah Hill, who plays Gaines’ friend, Sherman Schrader. In fact, most of the truly funny moments in the movie are centered around Hill rather than Long.
The DVD includes special features such as a “campus tour,” which allows the viewer to see short videos filmed from each location, a gag reel laced with numerous bleeped Lewis Black obscenities, deleted scenes, two music videos, a “making of” feature and a short film chronicling the on-set antics of one of the movie’s stoner characters (played by Adam Herschman). Additionally, the soundtrack to the movie is downloadable from the DVD when it’s plugged into a computer.
Accepted is much funnier than it ever should have been, given its tired source material, and represents the teen comedy alternative to all of the other films dedicated almost solely to dick and fart jokes. Fans of slightly sophomoric teen flicks will certainly appreciate Accepted, and the DVD offers an opportunity to enjoy the film without getting off the couch.