Product: Sorority Boys (2002)
Rating: 1.0
ouch.
Sorority Boys (Wallace Wolodarsky, 2002)Every once in a while, American film snobs wonder why every other country on the planet from Japan to Togo whips [us] at Cannes every year. Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you prosecution exhibit A, Sorority Boys. First, why Wallace Wolodarsky was given a camera again after the farce that was Coldblooded is utterly beyond me (the only saving grace is that Hollywod took seven years to green-light him again after that debacle). Second, I don't care how good Melissa Sagemiller looks (and she looks even better here than she did in the awful Soul Survivors), she can't save a film on sex appeal alone. Third, when your talent pool's three male leads are veterans of such classic cinematic fare as Co-ed Call Girl (Barry Watson), Urban Legend (Michael Rosenbaum), and Freddy Got Fingered (Harland Williams), you know you're not going to be producing the next Citizen Kane. (As a side note, pity poor Heather Matarazzo, whose career is taking the Keanu Reeves track: start out in some of the most critically-acclaimed films of the decade, make a few mindless comedies, and spend more than a decade trying to repair the damage done. Matarazzo has a slight chance with the potentially fine film 10029, coming out next year... if anyone ever sees it.)Then add a classic plot. In this case, three losers (Watson, Rosenbaum, Williams) are unable to join their fraternity of choice, despite one's father being an alumnus. So, instead, in order to get revenge, they cross-dress and join a rival sorority. With the expected results. Very expected, in fact. Not a joke here that we haven't already heard a hundred times or so in other films (though admittedly, a few of them still get laughs). Not a plot twist left untied. Not a trick left unpaid. You name it, if it's a cliché about bad teen comedy, it applies.The one redeeming feature of this movie isn't in the movie at all, actually. One of the extras on the DVD is a montage of behind-the-scenes shots filmed form the points of view of the director, makeup artist, etc. using portable fiber-optic cameras. Now THIS is a load of fun. Far more than the film itself, actually, and the directors of other, better things would do well to take note. (Wouldn't you have loved to see some special effects from, say, The Terminator or The Abyss through the eyes of Jim Cameron's special effects guy?)I don't think "avoid like the plague" is strong enough, It's not as mind-numbingly awful as American Pie, but it's close. *