Van Wilder 2002

Loren King, Boston Globe: [Reynold's] boyish, sweet-natured comic appeal makes ''Van Wilder'' better than it has a right to be. Read more

John Monaghan, Detroit Free Press: Van Wilder has a built-in audience, but only among those who are drying out from spring break and are still unconcerned about what they ingest. Read more

Charles Savage, Miami Herald: The problem is not that it's all derivative, because plenty of funny movies recycle old tropes. The problem is that Van Wilder does little that is actually funny with the material. Read more

Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper: ... Tara Reid plays a college journalist, but she looks like the six-time winner of the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Pageant, so I don't know what she's doing in here ... Read more

Susan Stark, Detroit News: Read more

Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News: The only thing keeping it from being a complete waste of time is the charismatic performance of Mr. Reynolds. Read more

Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune: An unabashedly bad movie full of cliches, claptrap, fairly good rock 'n' roll and stomach-turning gross-out gags. Read more

Dave Kehr, New York Times: What's lacking is the sense of structure that might have made Van Wilder more than a meandering succession of random gags. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's a tasteless, tacky movie full of cheap T&A. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: It has all the obligatory gross-out jokes you'd expect. But for every stupid gag involving half-naked women or uncontrollable bodily functions, there's a clever, laugh-out-loud line that sneaks up on you. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: Is there really an army of teenagers out there pining for the cozy old anarchy of Animal House-era high jinks? Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: Smug and dumb as they come, it's a series of eruptive gross-out sketches tenuously linked by a romance plot. Read more

John Patterson, L.A. Weekly: An effervescent campus gross-out comedy that's true to the amoral, anarchic spirit of Lampoon founder-editor and screenwriter Doug Kenney. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Laughter for me was such a physical impossibility during National Lampoon's Van Wilder that had I not been pledged to sit through the film, I would have lifted myself up by my bootstraps and fled. Read more

Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: When it runs out of ways to be funny, Van Wilder resorts to schmaltz. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: Imagine Animal House with the unfunny Chevy Chase in the lead, instead of either Matheson, John Belushi or Tom Hulce, and you've pretty much nailed the biggest problem with this evil incarnation. Read more

Time Out: There's one saving grace: Reynolds may look a lot like NL's Chevy Chase, but, hey, he's actually quite likeable. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: The movie ends with outtakes in which most of the characters forget their lines and just utter 'uhhh,' which is better than most of the writing in the movie. Read more

Scott Foundas, Variety: Strangely likable and only about half as puerile as the average MTV reality series. Read more

Michael O'Sullivan, Washington Post: Execrable. Read more