Movie review: ‘Van Wilder Deux’ flunks out
Posted by Dennis Sellers 
Dec 4, 2006 at 1:49am
By Aaron Lee
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder didn’t drum up much box office, but has done well on DVD. So now we’re subjected to the sequel, Van Wilder Deux: The Rise of Taj, which is, amazingly, even worse than the first—and that’s quite a non-accomplishment.
Heck, it doesn’t even have the original’s “hero” (played in the original by Ryan Reynolds). Instead we have Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Kal Penn), who leaves Coolidge College for Camford University, where he looks to continue his education, and teach uptight students how to make the most out of their academic careers. Which, of course, means sex, drinking and partying.
You can see the plot developments from space: Taj and his cohorts will eventually get the best of the campus snobs and the “establishment.” Stereotypes and overacting abound. The humor is lame and tired. The jokes are recycled and retreaded from National Lampoon’s Animal House, the best film of its kind. Pretty much everything since then has been Animal House leftovers and wannabees, including this dog of a campus comedy.
Van Wilder Deux: the Rise of Taj is rated R for pervasive crude sexual content, some nudity and language. Running time: 95 minutes. Macsimum rating: 2 out of 10. You can check out the film’s trailer on the QuickTime movie trailer site.
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Dennis Sellers
Dennis has been a newspaper editor/reporter (seven years) and teacher (seven years). He has over 4,000 magazine, newspaper and online articles to his credit. He has also covered the Mac and tech industries for over a decade for such online publications as MacCentral, MacMinute and now MacsimumNews.
