21 and Over (2013)

Cheetos have never been this much fun.

Ever since the gigantic success of The Hangover in 2009, writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore have increasingly relied on the same old formula of a couple dudes rushing to get themselves out of some kind of ridiculous predicament and finding themselves in several thousand gross-out gags along the way. Thus was the case with The Change-Up, and now they have done it again with their directorial debut 21 and Over. One would think they’d seize this opportunity as sophomoric auteurs to put together a slightly original film that would lead to a long and creatively fruitful career where they can exist as their own bosses. Instead, they’ve made a film that not only adheres to every college comedy formula, but also goes well out of its way to be as nondescript, clunky and unamusing as possible.

21 and Over begins with friends Casey (Skylar Astin) and Miller (Miles Teller) as they go to visit their friend Jeff Chang (Justin Chon) on his 21st birthday. Jeff has an important interview early the next morning, but Miller forces him to go out drinking anyway, and this results in much chaos. As our two noble protagonists try to get Jeff back home in plenty of time for the interview, Casey starts to fall for a girl named Nicole (Sarah Wright) who is about to head out to Europe. In case this isn’t making any sense to you, imagine The Hangover, but instead of a wedding there’s a med school interview, and instead of Heather Graham there’s Sarah Wright. Also, it’s a heck of lot less funny and engaging.

The one thing Lucas and Moore would appear to have going for them is that they usually write comedies with actual structure instead of the rambling messes we’ve seen more and more of lately. Yet somehow that backfires on them here, and 21 and Over winds up being loose and unfocused in all the wrong places. Much of the dialogue between Casey and Miller feels like the kind of conversations Seth Rogen and Paul Rudd would have in an early Apatow movie, but it all feels achingly forced. Both Astin and Teller come out of this film relatively unscathed, but the characters they’re playing are just the one-note stereotypes we’ve seen in a million other movies just like this one. Casey is the smart, responsible one who’s looking forward to the next stage of his life. Miller lives to be a loudmouth and drink all the time. In the first few minutes especially, Miller is an infuriating character that exists solely to bully everyone else into getting the main plot rolling. Eventually these two fight, of course, but I will never tell you if they wind up resolving their differences.

The least glamorous role here belongs to Chon, who eventually is asked to do little more than run around like a crazy person while wearing next to nothing. He does it admirably enough, I suppose, but I got the feeling and Lucas and Moore were trying to take the appeal of Ken Jeong’s Hangover character and transfer it to a college setting. Oh, and while we’re on the topic of the college setting: 21 and Over is just another movie that creates some kind of college fantasy world that can’t possibly exist. At least if it does, I'm not familiar with it. Like so many R-rated college comedies—specifically the direct-to-DVD American Pie sequels, which this movie has more in common with than it would like to admit—this environment seems to be the product of a pubescent boy’s id. This is the kind of place where two dudes can walk into a sorority, order two blindfolded girls to start making out with each other, and they oblige. You know, like criminals. 21 and Over does not set feminism back as far as, say, last year’s Project X, but like just about all of these movies it is most concerned with the male point of view. There’s the one obligatory love interest, of course. All the other females are either eye candy or villains.

It’s not all bad, admittedly. Again, the actors are all charming enough—Teller in particular is so much better than this, as has been proven in other films—and as with any comedy there are a few moments that caused me to chuckle. But the problem still stands: there’s not a single moment in this movie that doesn’t come from some other, probably better movie. (In some cases, the movies aren’t necessarily better.) It all leads up to a climax that seems to suggest that having fun is the most important thing in the world, so long as you also try to grow up, maybe? Ah, who cares? 21 and Over isn’t concerned with any real thematic meaning or character growth. It’s squarely aimed at the kind of people who will giggle when the “Virgin Produced” studio logo pops onscreen before the film even starts. In fairness, that probably is one of the funnier moments.

Grade: D+