The venerable comedy outfit National Lampoon has scored some
notable hits on the big screen, including the Chevy Chase Vacation
series and, of course, Animal House, but they've also had more than
their fair share of misses too numerable to list. Now with Van Wilder,
we have the self-proclaimed "Animal House for the next
generation." While I'm not so sure Van Wilder sits in the same
class as that John Landis and James Belushi comedic masterpiece, it is
pretty darn funny in it's own right. Despite the marketing campaign,
the similarities between the two are actually relatively minor. Both
take place in college where everyone drinks, there are plenty of
boobs, and our hero is about to kicked out of school so he concocts
plenty of screwball schemes to save his ass. Oh, and did I mention
that there are plenty of boobs?
The story is simple. Van Wilder
is in his seventh year at Coolidge College with no intent of ever
graduating. He is the party king and the campus agrees, but he's not
conceited, just honest. (His father, so wrapped up in his work life,
doesn't even realize that he has paid for seven years of tuition.)
However, when dad gets the latest semester bill, he decides that
enough is enough. For Van, nothing could be worse than having to leave
Coolidge College, so he and his friends devise a way to solve his
financial woes. There's also a subplot about the school newspaper
reporter who has been assigned to get Van's story. Of course, she's
dating a frat boy but seems to be falling for Van anyway. The rest is,
as you can surely imagine, is just what you'd expect... Ryan
Reynolds stars as Van with Bunny Lebowski (Tara Reid) as the reporter.
Both put on a fine show with Reynolds displaying true comedic flair.
He's done a fair amount of TV work including the somewhat popular
"Two Girls and a Guy" and a few small films, and here proves
he can certainly carry a lead role. (Perhaps we'll see more of him?)
Also making appearances are Paul Gleason in a nice play on his famous
Breakfast Club principal role, Animal House veteran Tim Matheson, and
even Booger (Curtis Armstrong) and Ponch (Erik Estrada) have small
roles. The rest of the cast and filmmakers are relative newcomers, but
do a great job in making all the silliness work. It's not a great
film, but Van Wilder is a fun time that's worth a rental.
Video: How Does The Disc Look? 
Both 1.85:1 anamorphic
widescreen and full screen transfers are included on the first disc of
this two-disc set. This is a fairly good-looking DVD, but I can't help
but feel that it would have looked even better had all the available
bit space been allotted to only one version of the film. In spite of
the lack of real detail and a few compression artifacts, the rest of
the transfer is still only slightly above average. Color saturation is
decent, but the film often looks a bit washed-out. Blacks are solid
but not all that impressive, with fair contrast, resulting in
acceptable detail. Shadow delineation is meager in darker scenes, and
while edge enhancement isn't a big problem it is definitely present.
Overall, this is good, just not a great transfer.
Audio:
How Does The Disc Sound?
There are two Dolby Digital tracks
included, a 448 kpbs 5.1 mix and another in 2.0 Dolby surround. As is
the case with most comedies, this isn't a very exciting track. A
verifiable who's who of teen music and De La Soul, the 50-odd songs
are reproduced nicely with solid dynamic range. The high end is a bit
on the bright side and occasionally raspy when dialogue is directed to
the right or left channels, but otherwise it is a well-recorded mix.
The few localized effects are nice and dialogue is firmly balanced in
the center channel except for some aggressive stereo effects. The
surrounds are mainly utilized for score extension and don't offer much
envelopment. The .1 LFE channel is the highlight of this mix, as it is
constantly active and very pronounced. This is a good mix, but not
great.
No foreign language dubs are provided, only English and
Spanish subtitles. 
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
Perhaps more than this film really deserves, Artisan has
sported for a two-disc set with a whole disc filled with extras. Aside
from the unrated cut of the film, which includes a little under
two minutes of footage "too hot" for the theaters (i.e.,
mostly nudity), I couldn't honestly start this section off without a
discussion about the rather brazen menus and hidden easter
eggs. I think I mentioned earlier that this movie contains
breasts. Well, if you like mammary glands than this disc is for you!
The menus come in two brands, censored and uncensored, and are pretty
creative as far as the actual graphics is concerned, although
feminists the world over will probably be rather pissed off. And when
you go, ahem, between the menus you'll also get a little surprise:
there are approximately a dozen, give or take a few,
"hidden" things for you to seek. Most of them are breast
related, in various stages of wetness, and very short, but finding
them is half the fun, right?
The second disc contains all of
the "supplemental" material, although for a two-disc set the
extras are admittedly pretty darn weak. The most informative pieces
are the text extras, but if I wanted to read about the movie I
wouldn't need a DVD, would I? There are ten deleted scenes, all
non-anamorphic and in 2.0. A few of them are actually very funny,
unlike the twelve outtakes, which actually include outtakes of
deleted scenes! Confused? 
Next up are some short vignettes. We
have the Burly Bear specials (Burly Bear network anyone?), and
the 12-minute Half Baked Special "in the kitchen with Ryan
Reynolds and Tara Reid." Lame. Imposter (5 minutes) is
sort of a candid camera with a member of the Van Wilder cast, who I'll
keep secret, and it is slightly more amusing. Next, we have the 14-
minute Movie Junkie interview. About as fun as a teenaged
version of Entertainment Tonight, it is not very informative and sort
of annoying. The Music of Van Wilder is a collection of thirty
second recordings from the soundtrack. Warning! Some of these
recordings are very poor and crackly as hell so keep the volume down!
Finally, Comedy Central's Reel Comedy runs for 7 minutes with
interviews with the cast members in character. Somewhat entertaining.
Better than the pithy video bits are three text sections,
which isn't saying much: Production Notes, Cast &
Crew and the DVD credits. The notes are about as informative as
you get from this disc, while the Cast & Crew bios are actually
very detailed and include everybody and their grandma. The Van
Wilder Files are a collection of six humorous text pieces that
include Van's college application, and questions and answer, a la
"Dear Van" letters. Last but not least, The Van Wilder
Campaign Art Gallery is a nice user-controlled look at several one
sheets for the film.
Rounding it out are three theatrical
trailers in 2.0 and non-anamorphic; a teaser (the Gladiator spoof)
and two trailers. There are also three full frame TV spots,
plus a DVD trailer gallery that contains video previews for Novocaine,
Reservoir Dogs, Good Advice, Dune, and Glengarry Glen Ross. Finally, a
"Bouncing of the Walls" music video from Sugarcult
finishes it up in 2.0 and full screen.
DVD-ROM Exclusives:
What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?
No ROM
extras have been included.
Parting Thoughts
National Lampoon's Van Wilder isn't hilarious, but it delivers a
few guffaws and is worth catching. As a DVD, the transfer is okay, and
where were all the real extras on the second disc? If you are a
fan, pick this one up, all others give her a rent first. After all,
there are a lot of boobies.
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