BUY THE DVD:
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SYNOPSIS:
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three rowdy college students are kicked out of their dorm and dress up in drag to live in the dog house, where the girls deemed unattractive live.
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MOVIE FACT:
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harland williams also played a woman in mr. headmistress.
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RATING:
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two out of four possible stars
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Whether or not psychics exist won't be a question for heavy debate for anybody who sees Sorority Boys. You don't need a psychic to guess how this movie is going to end. And if "you like those sort of movies," this film will probably seem like an entertaining time at the theater. Most of the jokes are recycled and just about all of the characters in this film have shown up in multiple films over the past two decades. But in some strange way, the movie's familiarity works in its favor. The three male leads were cast well in their parts and though the supporting cast could have been more thought out, and the sorority "boys" looked nothing like real women, as far as toilet humor goes, this film delivers what has been promised.
Fart jokes and humor directly related the parts of the body usually covered by clothing fill this movie to the brim. But in its success with the lowbrow humor, the film seems only to perpetuate the myth that college students are interested in nothing more than National Lampoon type of behavior. Hollywood doesn't have to churn out films with the lowest i.q. possible to get college kids to attend the theater. There's no need for shakespeare at every premiere, but some originality would be preferable to the common recrudescing of Animal House each season with some new college aged picture.
Most of the credit for any success in this film should be placed with Barry Watson, Harland Williams, and Michael Rosenbaum who have a decent amount of talent spread between them. Though Harland's performance sometimes goes above and beyond what could be considered funny, the three take the standard "men in women's clothing" jokes and performed them well. The comedy in this film really didn't carry with it any surprises or unique areas, but the three sorority boys seemed to milk the jokes for all they were worth. The many differences between men and woman have been the subject for countless films, and Boys took advantage of just about every aspect of the feminine way of life.
Everything from hair in the drain to shaving to clothing choices is parodied with the high points of this humor coming from the actors themselves. Unfortunately, the supporting cast for this film is not as impressive as the three guys on the poster. Melissa Sagemiller plays "Leah," the slightly lesbian feminist leader of the DOG sorority, and love interest to Watson's cross-dressing sorority boy character. Though Leah is just the standard love interest character always required in this type of film, her portrayal is not convincing. Sagemiller has limited acting experience, this being her her fourth film or so and in Sorority Boys, she has no natural acting talent.
Perhaps whatever abilities she may have will surface in the future after she has a few more films under her belt, but as for her role in this film, her character is one of the weakest in the film. And this doesn't bode well for the film, considering the film is only as convincing as its actors' performances. Another female in a supporting role, Heather Matarazzo plays "Katie," a girl with a serious voice problem. She yells every word that comes out of her mouth, making it essential that anyone in ear-shot cover his ears before they start to bleed. Of course, Katie's problem is somewhat corrected by the sorority boys who help her to realize that it's not her voice that guys are interested in, but her personality. It's a fine lesson to learn for the shy girl, but her voice throughout the film is quite a reason to sneak a pair of ear plugs into the cinema.
But in point of fact, Matarazzo's performance has more of a ring of truth to it than her sorority sister, Leah. Of course, to take these performances, and indeed this entire movie, seriously would be counter-productive. The film is not made to be a serious study of life on campus or the relationships between men and women and how they'll never be alike. This movie's main purpose in life is to convince college aged boys to buy tickets and popcorn and convince their dates to buy tickets as well. And in this mission, the film succeeds. The humor is base and crude and fits right in with the stereotypical life of a frat and sorority houses.
Whether the scenes of greek life in this film are true to real life doesn't really matter. What's important is that the jokes in this film are the reliable steadfast kind that have been presented time and time again for the past two decades with varying degrees of success. They are standard bits of comedy and they usually work, so why bother to create anything new? This film doesn't have any amount of originality to it and so it won't be regarded as anything break-out in the gross-out joke marketplace, but if recycled is your game, this movie won't disappoint. Some good casting for the lead roles save this film from being something destined for the scrap heap.
Review by Kelsey Wyatt.
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