21 & Over

2013 / Director. Jon Lucas & Scott Moore

Statistically very few comedies are lauded by critics and 21 & Over has received some of the worst feedback I've read in ages. The poster art is reminiscent of the artwork for Project X, which I thought was a hilarious and underrated movie. And so with all fare warnings taken on board I approached 21 & Over with low expectations... and loved it. If you take Animal House, The Hangover and Harold & Kumar and put them in a blender, THIS would be the smoothie! Its much like any other movie in the frat-house genre and the characters are textbook. One sensible guy, one reckless loser & one wasted dude... these three friends find themselves spending a night on the town and have to get the wasted friend home before 7AM so he can get to an important job interview. Naturally everything goes wrong and they can't remember the address... and so in Harold & Kumar style they hop, skip & hump all over town running into one debacle after another. The script is well written and the pacing is excellent. Credit ought to be given for knowledge of genre because 21 & Over demonstrates good set-up and execution... and even has that all important (or not) sincerity at its core. I don't understand why it was canned so much and no doubt people will try to convince me... but were this directed by Todd Phillips and sold as The Hangover: College Days, then I'm sure fan reactions would be much different. Watch it with mates, get drunk and give in to it. Very funny.

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