Movie Review: Van Wilder 2 - The Rise of Taj - Page 2

Thankfully the story moves fast, and there is a small amount of humor delivered in the performance of Kal Penn. Penn was very funny in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, and nearly stole the show in the first Wilder, but those roles gave him another talent to balance him out. With no Ryan Reynolds or John Cho to bail him out here, he flounders as the lead.

The rest of the cast seems to just fill in or detract from the film. Lauren Cohan, who plays Taj’s love interest Charlotte, is charming and very beautiful but the onscreen chemistry is just not there with Penn – something all too common in films like this. To add to that, Daniel Percival is absolutely annoying as Pipp, the cocky head douchebag of the Fox and Hounds frat. He takes the annoying, metrosexual iconic college bad guy to a whole new level – off the deep end.

In the end there isn’t much here to salvage The Rise of Taj. If you want to see Van Wilder, see Van Wilder. If you want to see the Van Wilder re-mix, sans Ryan Reynolds and entertainment value – then feel free to give this one a shot. Just don’t ever say that I didn’t warn you.

Release Date: December 1, 2006

Final Grade:

Article Author: Neil Miller

Neil Miller is a 23-year-old film critic who lives and works in Columbus, Ohio. He is a member of the Central Ohio Film Critics Association. His musings about the world of film (and other various topics) are on display at his blog, The Columbus Movie Guy. …

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