Thursday, September 15, 2016

Thursday Movie Picks - Sororities/Fraternities/Secret Societies

Written as part of the weekly blogathon hosted by Wandering Through the Shelves. Join in the fun by picking three movies that fit the week's theme and telling us about them!

I wasn't in a fraternity in college. I thought about it, certainly. There's definitely something appealing about being part of a "brotherhood" and obviously the parties are a huge plus. But when it came down to it, for me, my people weren't in a frat. So I decided not to rush. And I don't regret it at all, even though I probably would have had a great time had I ended up joining.

But either way, movies about fraternities are usually lots of fun, and I will always have those!

The House Bunny (Fred Wolf, 2008) I don't care what anyone else says, this movie is HILARIOUS. Mostly thanks to Anna Faris, who is sublime perfection as an airhead Playboy bunny who gets kicked out of the Playboy mansion and ends up becoming "House Mother" to a sorority of outcasts in danger of getting shut down. Of course, the supporting cast, including Emma Stone, Kat Dennings, and Rumer Willis, is also pretty damn good. I have such fun whenever I watch this movie, even if it isn't "good".

Legally Blonde (Robert Luketic, 2001) Our heroine, Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), manages to make it into Harvard Law School ("What, like it's hard?") in order to chase after the dreamy beau who dumped her for not being "serious" enough, but soon finds out that if she works hard, she might actually succeed at this whole law thing, too. In the process, she upends people's expectations of her, including her own. Not much of the movie outside of the first ten minutes or so takes place at a sorority, but Elle's status as a Delta Nu sister is important - people judge her because of it, and she uses the network of sisterhood the sorority established to get ahead without abusing it. Enough cannot be said about Witherspoon's performance as Elle, which is one of the great "dumb blondes" in movie history - Elle may be superficial and silly, but the way Witherspoon plays her, she never feels like a caricature. Bonus points for memorable support from Jennifer Coolidge (the kindly, stupid manicurist Elle becomes friends with), Holland Taylor (the hard-as-nails law professor who pushes Elle to greater things), and Selma Blair (bringing many different shades to her performance as the bitch who "stole" Elle's beau).

Van Wilder (Walt Becker, 2002) Van Wilder doesn't belong to a fraternity, but he doesn't have to. As a seventh-year senior, he throws all the best parties on campus anyway. Unfortunately, the fraternities on campus don't take too kindly to this, and when a frat president's girlfriend's interest in Van seems to grow into something besides professional curiosity (she's a journalist writing a story on Van for the school newspaper), a war begins between the frat and Van. Look. This isn't anyone's idea of a good movie. It certainly isn't mine. But, in its way, if you can get on Ryan Reynolds's smug-but-beautiful douchebag-with-a-heart-of-gold level, it's kind of stupidly enjoyable. Kind of.

12 comments:

  1. Fun picks. I LOVE Legally Blonde and Witherspoon's performance in it. I like that when the script calls for her to dig deeper into herself there is actually something there but she doesn't abandon who she is as a person incorporating those facets into being more varied. And yes to the performances of those three actresses, plus it was great to see Raquel Welch, looking fab, show up far too briefly.

    Van Wilder is goofy, dumb and derivative but Reynolds easygoing charm puts it over. It's nothing I'd watch again but I enjoyed it for what it was.

    Haven't seen House Bunny.

    I tried for a mix-a thriller (to be honest a kind of silly one), a drama about hazing and a sunshiny musical that I love.

    The Skulls (2000)-Thinking it will help grease the wheels for his entrance into Harvard Law School Luke (Joshua Jackson) joins the secret fraternity at his college “The Skulls”. At first everything seems great but a series of disturbing incidents causes him to look for answers to the real purpose of the fraternity and suddenly he finds that his life might be in danger.

    Fraternity Row (1977)-College Freshman Zac (Gregory Harrison) pledges a prestigious fraternity despite his girlfriend’s feeling that they are antiquated and discriminatory. Objecting to the brutality of hazing Zac, joined by some of the other pledges, rebels but the fraternity’s leader turns a deaf ear to their complaints leading to a terrible calamity. Scott Newman who plays the head of the fraternity was the son of Paul and died of a drug overdose not long after completion of this film.

    Good News (1947)-It’s football season at good ol’ Tait College and Big Man On Campus Tommy Marlowe (Peter Lawford), the star quarterback, is torn between two sorority sisters, the gold digging Pat McClellan and wholesome, down to earth Connie Lane (June Allyson). Flirty Pat turns his head which causes him to treat Connie badly but when he flunks a test and may not be able to play the Big Game it’s Connie he turns to so that he can make the grade! Tuneful musical is an almost perfect example of MGM at its peak. The finale, The Varsity Drag and the earlier Pass That Peace Pipe, are studies in color coordination and dancing precision while remaining breezy delights.

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    1. GOOD NEWS!!!!! I can't believe I didn't think of that - I LOVE IT!!!!

      Reese is so damn good in Legally Blonde, she really takes everything the script gives her and runs with it, creating a complete, fully-rounded character where a lesser actress would have given a caricature. Which, to be fair, is kind of what Anna Faris does in The House Bunny, but it's a knowing, wink-wink kind of caricature, dialed up to eleven in the best way possible.

      I figured The Skulls would be the title of the week, but it's SO silly I can't really take it seriously even though it desperately wants to be.

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  2. Can't stand the latter twi and The House Bunny is very basic but enjoyable i can watch it. I think I'm one of the few who ahtes Legally Blonde, to its core. I was forced to watch over and over at school at the end of term. That and Big Daddy.

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    1. WHAT??? How can you hate Legally Blonde?!? I guess anything can be overplayed, and lord knows that one certainly has been, even without people forcing you to watch it over and over, but.... I dunno, I find it so lovable.

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  3. I tried with House Bunny. Just didn't work for me. Granted, the Faris towel-drop was nice, but not nearly enough to save it for me. I've only seen bits and pieces both of your other two picks.

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    1. You haven't seen Legally Blonde in full?!? Rectify that IMMEDIATELY, Dell!

      The House Bunny shouldn't work, but I laughed all the way through it. Anna Faris is just such a game comedienne.

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  4. House Bunny just looks so stupid but not "its so stupid, it's fun"....just dumb. I chose Legally Blond as well which is fun but not one of my favs. I have not seen Van Wilder and not sure I want to:)

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    1. lol The House Bunny is VERY "so stupid it's fun" to me. Yeah, Van Wilder is NOT for everybody.

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  5. I love Legally Blonde and Van Wilder. Hated The House Bunny though. lol

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    1. Awwwwwwwwwwwww, I has a sad at the lack of House Bunny love! I know it's stupid and not really "good", but I find it so much fun!

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  6. Come on, The House Bunny wasn't that funny!

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    1. OH, BUT IT IS!

      LOL I dunno, I always get a kick out of it. And I still laugh at the line "The eyes are the nipples of the face."

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