Hot-buttered opinion on the latest flicks

National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj

Thu., Nov. 30, 2006 4:05 PM PST by Luke Y. Thompson

Director Mort Nathan's second feature is a far cry from his first, which might not be such a bad thing except for the fact that his first movie was Boat Trip. Yes, gay jokes involving Roger Moore are way more hilarious than anything in this dispiritingly flat college comedy.

And that's, unfortunately, what we've come to expect lately from anything with "National Lampoon's" in the title (it's been a loooong time since the first Vacation).

Van Wilder was a rare anomaly that didn't totally suck, thanks to a dedicated lead performance by Ryan Reynolds, but the producers seem to believe that what people liked about it was the bulldog named Balzac with the big, uh...anatomical detail that sounds like "Balzac."

So, here is Balzac again, sans Reynolds, shipped off to England alongside Kal Penn, who's doing the stereotypical Indian geek shtick for the hundredth time. Naturally, he encounters snobbery, hooks up with the campus losers, and takes on the elitists, who are led by a snob called the Earl of Grey.

Ryan Reynolds did Blade: Trinity, people. If he thinks a sequel is beneath him, you'd better believe it.