Accepted (2006)

Maybe it's because I caught this at the right time in my life (it came out the summer before I entered college), but I actually really dig this movie. Directed by Steve Pink (who co-wrote the High Fidelity and Grosse Pointe Blank screenplays), Accepted is the tale of underachiever Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long), who after several rejection letters feels forced to create a fake college to appease his parents. Some of his similarly-afflicted friends join in on the action: Hands (Columbus Short), the laid back football player whose leg injury cost him his scholarship; Rory (Maria Thayer), the overworked student who was so certain she'd get into Yale she didn't apply to any other schools; and Glen (Adam Herschman), who got a "0" on the SAT's and was recently fired from his convenience store job for making a shrimp smoothie.

Bartleby's best friend Schrader (Jonah Hill) helps them out with renting and renovating an abandoned mental hospital for a "campus" and setting up a bank account for tuition checks to go, despite the fact that he is actually attending a real school, the nearby snooty Harmon College. His uncle, former lecturer Ben Lewis (Lewis Black), poses as the dean for parents.Their fake website features an "acceptance is just a click away" button, causing between 100 and 200 college rejects to show up at their door and move into this fabled "South Harmon Institute of Technology" (S.H.I.T.). (hehe.)

Bartleby doesn't have the heart to send them all back after hearing their rejection stories, so he facilitates the creation of an experimental place of learning. They make up their own classes and teach each other about music, meditation, cooking, clothing design, skateboarding, etc. But uh oh: Harmon College wants to build a prestigious yard on the stretch of land housing South Harmon, and their investigations into the building's lease holder might prove its undoing. Also playing into the story is Monica (pre-Gossip Girl Blake Lively), Bartleby's long-time crush.

Accepted is highly unrealistic, clearly, and sometimes plays into some obvious or bland jokes, but overall I find it to be a really entertaining, laid back little chunk of teenage escapism. It has a really casual, likable atmosphere: there is little drama between most of the diverse characters, who are all easy friends despite their different high school student cliches; everything flows nicely and nothing bad really happens. It's almost a relief to watch something that I can just sit back and enjoy- a movie without complicated or ambiguous relationships or events, but not unintelligent. The premise is a little silly, yes, but the filmmakers and cast have a lot of fun with it while managing to take it seriously enough that it isn't stupid or unrelatable. Some interesting points about the standard American university system are made, and college-age teenagers are shown a decent level of respect.

I think the cast is really a selling point on this movie. Justin Long has wonderful comedic timing and fast-paced, sarcastic delivery. Mostly-pre-Apatowed Jonah Hill is a little too over the top for me but still funny as dry-witted, complainy Schrader. Maria Thayer is underused, but adorable, and naturally Lewis Black steals every scene he's in (often with sheer loudness) as the cynical former educator rediscovering his love of teaching. Blake Lively does this weird thing with her lips all the time, but maybe that's just the way her mouth is? I've never seen her in anything else. Whatever, her character is pretty boring: you know, that hot, sweet girl who dates a butch jerk but doesn't realize he's an asshole until he's caught being blatantly awful? And then suddenly decides she's into the dorkier dude who's liked her this whole time? Yeah, that's who she is. Yawn. At least she likes photography, I guess. And she's not a big part of the story.

Anyway, fun movie all around. Nothing earth-shattering, nothing especially gripping or impactful, but I think it's hard not to just have a good time watching. It has some great characters, funny writing, and an interesting concept. It will make you nostalgic for a college experience you know you can never/couldn't ever have, but in a good way (for the most part).

4/5