Movie Review by Neil Sadler
Starring: Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Blake Lively, Maria Thayer, Anthony Heald
Director: Steve Pink
An American post-teen comedy in much the same vein as AMERICAN PIE or ROAD TRIP, ACCEPTED follows the story of Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) who has coasted through high school with a series of scams. Turned down by every college he applies to, he creates a fake college rather than admit to his failure. As the lie grows more elaborate and others are drawn into this fake college – his lie becomes a reality as a group of misfits join this âfakeâ college as it is the only place they are accepted.
Although utterly predictable from the unobtainable girl that you know Bartleby will end up with to the peril of a rival real local college determined to buy them out, ACCEPTED never challenges or surprises. However it is always entertaining. The bunch of misfits that gather around Long are an amusing bunch â” and make the movie more broadly appealing than some of the other, gross-out comedies.
The star though is Justin Long. Having appeared in GALAXY QUEST and DODGEBALL, he seems to have eschewed the usual teen comedy route and this is probably the most âpredictableâ comedy he has done. He is an assured hand â” confident without being cocky. It all bodes well for his turn as comedy sidekick in DIE HARD 4.0 this summer.
A cut above the usual teen fare â” and a good comedy in its own right.
