6. Old School

Release Date: February 21st, 2003

Director: Todd Phillips

The Non Will Ferrell Cast: Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Jeremy Piven, Ellen Pompeo, Sean William Scott

First Time I Saw It: I was a senior in High School and saw it with a large group of people. I appropriately laughed my ass off. In fact, I probably haven’t laughed that hard at a movie since.

Why I Love It: Old School is one of the last relics from the age of good comedies. Before there were pretentious mockumentaries, meta humor, and casting Zac Efron for cheap laughs, Old School was a comedy in the purest sense. Its title could not be more appropriate. It’s a comedic tale as old as time – a bunch of outcast slackers party too hard, and the angry Dean (Piven) tries to shut them down.

I’ve always argued that Will Ferrell is best in doses, and that’s exactly what Old School gives us. While I moderately enjoy Anchorman and Step Brothers, it’s Ferrell overload. He works best as a supporting character. It also helps that this was his true coming out party. Sure, we were all aware of the guy, but every time we complain about being sick of the Will Ferrell schtick, the genesis of that comes from this movie. We forget that Old School was the first time Will Ferrell was truly unleashed, and it was glorious.

“You’re my boy, Blue!”

How many times did we use that phrase in 2003? You can also apply the same logic to Vince Vaughn in this movie. Yeah, we knew him from Swingers, but this was the first time the fast talking Vince Vaughn was unleashed, and because we had never experienced it before, it was hilarious. To put it simply, Old School is just a consistently funny romp that doesn’t rely on cheap gags. It relies on the delivery and comic timing of its three main stars.

Signature Ferrell Moment: You have to go with the streaking here. And credit to Todd Phillips who directs this sequence perfectly. It’s easy to look back now and say, “Oh, that’s such a Will Ferrell moment. Yeah, I’ve seen that a hundred times.” At the time though, we hadn’t, and we forget just how funny that moment was. –Daniel Cohen

[php] wp_link_pages(array(‘before’=>’

‘)); [/php]

============================================================================================================================================