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VAN WILDER: THE RISE OF TAJ
STARRING: Kal Penn
DIRECTED BY: Mort Nathan
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How this film could end up anywhere other than sandwiched between movies like Dorm Daze 2 and Going the Distance in the discounted video bin of your local corner store is a question that will haunt anyone who has the misfortune of paying $10 to see this film. The fact that it will enjoy a two-week shelf life in theatres before an accelerated turnaround to video can only be credited to the marketability of lead Kal Penn (Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle) to potheads and frat boys.
Worse than simply being a bad comedy, this is a picture that pushes hard to be humorous but completely misses its mark (though one can at least sympathize). This form of failure rides the coat-tail of its moderately successful predecessor, a film that at least benefited from the charm and comedic timing of Ryan Reynolds.
Admittedly, I was not much of a fan of the original. My respect for it grew exponentially over the course of the 96-minute running time of this atrocity. To its credit, National Lampoon’s Van Wilder possessed a degree of boyish whimsy and, more importantly, did not insult its intended audience.
Mort Nathan directs and does for Penn what he did for Cuba Gooding in Boat Trip – shed him of his self-respect. As Van’s prodigy, Taj (Penn) goes to London to study as a teacher’s assistant. He befriends a group of losers including a girl with nice cleavage – we see it often. Taj falls for the nice girl, but she’s involved with his nemesis and their crew of evildoers. There is a big competition. Taj rallies the underdogs. We see many boobs. The gang rises to the challenge only to be cheated by its nemesis – but their rival’s dishonesty is exposed in a publicly humiliating fashion. Taj gets the girl and the losers get their self-respect.
This film is offensive to everyone, not because it pushes the commodity of skin to horny young males, but because it does so under the pretence of having some redeeming entertainment value.
This film is nothing short of insulting. |
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