rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 1978
Directed by John Landis; produced by Ivan Reitman, Matty Simmons; written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney, Chris Miller
Starring John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Tom Hulce, Karen Allen, Kevin Bacon, Donald Sutherland
Below you will find a temporary review for this film. The real (better, more complete) review will be online very soon.
Although there are some great moments in 'Animal House', the well-known John
Landis film, I don't think it really is that funny. Maybe that is because I
don't recognize anything from real life experience. I did not live in 1962
and I do not live on a campus in the US, nor have I ever done that. What I
know about those places comes from what I have seen in television series and
other movies. The jokes in 'Animal House' seem to come from exaggerations of
real situations. For me they were just weird situations created to get a
laugh.
It is the kind of story that is told many times, although not always in the
same package. This time the good guys belong to a fraternity with a mix of
losers, misfits, nerds, people you would not even expect on a university and
a couple of bright kids. They are a disgrace for the campus and the people
who have that opinion are the bad guys, including another fraternity (where
we meet a young Kevin Bacon) and of course most of the people in charge of
the university.
Among the good guys we find actors such as John Belushi, who admittedly does
make you smile quite a lot, Tom Hulce (yes, Mozart in 'Amadeus') and Tim
Metheson. Donald Sutherland plays a stoner teacher who is also on their
side. His scenes belong to the nice ones as well. The writers Harold Ramis,
Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller use these actors to the fullest and back in
1978 it must have worked. Considering this is the first comedy in its kind I
have a certain admiration for it, but for the younger audiences used to
films like 'American Pie', 'Road Trip' and 'Van Wilder' it really feels old.
Sex is something seen so often in the movies these days that a couple of
scenes from 'Animal House' have lost their impact completely.
Let me end by saying that I did not have a bad time watching this. For me it
is simply the fact that I'm used to this kind of comedy by now and I have no
memory of how it all was back in the sixties. 'Animal House' is a classic
comedy, the first in its sub-genre, and for that fact alone you should watch
it.