Dumpster Bust Weekend Movie Fest: The Best Campus Comedies of All Time
Published December 12, 2004
The ostensible plot of the movie is coughing up enough cash to save The Pit (remember Animal House, anyone?), but the fun is in the goofy asides (like throwing raw meat upon a bunch of protesters in Cow and Those Murdering Cow garb), wacky pranks (locking the stiff administrator types in a room with Starlight Vocal Band cranked up to 11 on repeat mode), and the requisite montages (Womynists v. Pot Head Hippies in Ultimate Frisbee), and exciting musical numbers (Mudhoney covering Elvis Costello on "Pump It Up," and Parliament / Funkadelic showing up accidentally to save The Pit by performing "Stomp" and "Flashlight" to a party that brings everyone together for once, and the house down).
PCU is a great time, gets even better with repeat viewings, and is especially great after a party at two in the morning with a plate of deep fried pork and steaming cup of cappuccino in front of you.
In other words:
Yeah yeah yeah, I fucking met Tom.
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- Dumpster Bust Weekend Movie Fest: The Best Campus Comedies of All Time
- Published: December 12, 2004
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- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Books: Humor, Culture: Humor and Satire, Music: Comedy and Spoken Word, Video: Classics, Video: Comedy, Video: Film and TV Business
- Writer: Eric Berlin
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Ditto on the Animal house thing. The only one I haven't seen here is Old School, but for it to beat out just John Belushi it would have to be a miraculous comedy.
"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"
"Germans?"
"Let him go. He's on a role."
Several people from several generations have made the argument for Animal House at #1. I can see where you and the others are coming from, but I still must stand by my comments in the article.
Old School, by the way, *is* miraculously funny. Definitely check it out.
~EB
Great list. I could quiblle with the order a bt, along the same lines that others have already done, but the hell wiht it. PCU is brilliantly funny. It goes into heavy rotation on cable every so often. I don't recall it ever being released in theaters, and if it was, it was certainly not a huge hit at the time.
Jeremy Piven is the hardest working man in show business. He is EVERYWHERE. I was watching Black Hawk DOwn recently and he is one of the copter pilots who gets shot down.
Sean,
I've been a huge Jeremy Piven fan ever since PCU, and you're right, he does show up in a lot of places, such as Judgement Night, Very Bad Things, and even that Ellen DeGeneres sitcom.
He's also got a huge connection with John Cusack, and I've heard that the two are longtime pals. Their credits together include Say Anything (remember the crazed party animal who attacks Cusack as "Key Master"?), Gross Pointe Blank (a friend of mine and I, who live in California and Maine respectively, will often say Ten Years! TEN YEARS! upon greeting), and Serendipity.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
He played the Key Master guy? I remember the character but never made the connection before. Frankly , at this point, if I see a movie in which he does not appear, I am dissappointed
John Cusack was appointed as the Key Master in Say Anything (showing that he was decent, responsible guy, etc.). Piven is a crazed party animal. He tackles Cusack out of nowhere, eventually cedes his keys to the level-headed Cusack (who is trying desperately to find the fetching Ione Sky), and eventually hugs him, saying drunkenly, "... I love you, man."
Say Anything = Great movie. Superior movie. Might be the best 80s comedy. Might have to make that my next epic list...
~EB
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great list and explication Eric, thanks and welcome! I would have to put Animal House no. 1 but that could well be generational