Sorority Boys Review
by Eugene Novikov (lordeugene_98 AT yahoo DOT com)May 6th, 2002
Sorority Boys (2002)
Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com/
"We don't need to look hot, just believable."
Starring Barry Watson, Michael Rosenbaum, Harlan Williams, Melissa Sagemiller. Directed by Wally Wolodarsky. Rated R.
Sorority Boys is one of the smartest entries into the teen comedy genre. It's derivative, of course, but it knows what's funny, and borrows all the right material from movies like Some Like It Hot. Like the classic Jack-Lemmon-in-drag comedy, the best humor here is visual, and some of the images here had me chuckling for hours after the movie was over. As just about everyone has taken the time to mention, the plot is idiotic and obvious -- who, exactly, wouldn't notice that the three "new girls" are guys in drag? -- but the script isn't nearly so stupid. This isn't a great movie, but it may surprise you.
Dave (Barry Watson), Adam (Michael Rosenbaum) and Doofer (Harlan Williams) are three fraternity guys who are having an amazing time partying their way through college. They are in charge of Kappa-Omicron-Kappa's (KOK) social committee, planning parties that involve hot girls from the "Tri-Pi" sorority but invariably exclude the freaks in Delta-Omicron-Gamma (DOG). But when the three of them are accused of stealing money from the KOK treasury, they are immediately expelled, left out on the street with no place to stay. None of them stole the money, and all they need is the videotape to prove that the culprit is the sleazy fraternity president.
Well, it just so happens that DOG is in the middle of a membership drive. So Dave, Adam and Doofer put on some dresses and some make-up, and voila! -- they fit right in among the freaks and geeks of the girl-power camp. Of course, Dave falls hard for Leah (Melissa Sagemiller), the head of the sorority, who has made it her mission to destroy guys like him. Adam is the one entrusted with sneaking bakc into his old room to find the videotape and Doofer, well... Doofer just wants to have fun.
Sorority Boys uses dumb humor in a smart way. It gets the gross-out jokes right. While movies like Road Trip and American Pie 2 thought they could get us to laugh simply by showing things we would cringe at, this one has real wit, a sense of timing and precision. A running gag throughout the movie is that during the KOK parties, the members slingshot dildoes at the DOG mansion. It's not an inherently funny idea, but the movie smartly forces the issue: apparently, the DOG-ies keep them in a basket by the fireplace.
Part of the joke is that these three guys look even less feminine than Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis. This is deliberate; it gives the movie a satirical edge, an offbeat comic sensibility that transcends the single-minded crudeness of the genre. Late in the film, Rosenbaum's Adam finds a dress that's Just the Right Size, and his holler of triumph has to be seen to be believed. And Harlan Williams may have found himself a new career: the sight of him in drag is funny every single time.
Director Wally Wolodarsky used to be a writer for The Simpsons, and he's taken the animated series' brilliant penchant for visual humor with him when he left. Those dildoes I talk about make a return when two of the main characters have a lightsaber duel with them, a scene that wouldn't have been funny but for the fact that it's ridiculously extended: he has taken a momentarily amusing image and pushed it over the top into hilarity. This sort of humor is present throughout the movie; a lesser filmmaker would have been content with just showing us a powder-puff football game between the DOGs and the Tri-Pi's, but Wolodarsky invests it with a priceless visual wit.
Yeah, Sorority Boys is still stoopid, and it still follows conventions of the genre. The lead "ugly girl," who is meant to teach us not to be so image-conscious is, of course, played by an unmistakably beautiful actress. There are still moments when the movie just goes for cheap shocks. But it's decidedly a cut above the average, a teen comedy with real laughs, and real effort put into the script. I kind of want to see it again.
Grade: B
Up Next: Spider-Man
©2002 Eugene Novikov
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