National Lampoon's Animal House (1978) User Reviews

National Lampoon's finest cinematic moment.

[jckruize · 8/10 · 18 December 2001]

Tasteless, politically incorrect and absolutely laugh-out loud hilarious, with a cast that's a Who's Who of later stars, including Peter Riegert, Tom Hulce, Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, Kevin Bacon, etc.

It's bittersweet watching the brilliance of John Belushi in this, his finest hour. Every twitch of his beady eyes, every jiggle of his mighty beer belly, every line of dialogue delivered with just the right amount of bluster or sneering sarcasm -- this guy was a bona-fide comic genius. He was taken from us far too soon.

Director John Landis orchestrates the escalating hi-jinks with masterful comedic precision, Elmer Bernstein contributes a very funny mock-grandiose score, and veteran character actor John Vernon provides a wonderful arch-villain as the toweringly evil Dean Wormer.

There are almost too many comic highlights; pick your own favorite. My candidates: Bluto's rousing speech about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor, Pinto's Good & Bad Consciences battling over whether he should take advantage of his passed-out date, and Otter picking up the dean's wife in the supermarket vegetable aisle.

Watch for co-writer Doug Kenney as 'Stork', suspected of brain damage. Another Saturday Night Live alumnus, along with Belushi and Harold Ramis, he died in a hiking accident in Hawaii not too long after the movie's release. Heartfelt thanks to him and Belushi, as well as everyone else involved in this classic, for providing us with so many laughs.

Frat Pack

[Prismark10 · 7/10 · 14 July 2014]

There was American Graffiti a few years earlier but Animal House set a standard of frat pack comedies with tits and ass that we still see today with the American Pie films.

The film is set in the early 1960s as the college Dean Vernon Wormer wants to remove the Deltas from the campus due to repeated conduct violations and low academic achievement. Of course the Deltas will include almost anyone in their house and is a haven for misfits in contrast to the Omegas who are clean cut, smug, privileged as well as exclusive who will have nothing to do with people who are fat, ugly, poor or coloured.

The screenplay and comedy was fresh for the time and the characters played by Tim Matheson, Peter Riegert, Tom Hulce have been imitated by others since then. In fact Tom Hanks very much copied Matheson's character in the 1980s.

Used sparingly John Belushi gives the loudest and wildest performance as Bluto and it all ends up in chaos in a parade where the Deltas have a rogue float that causes havoc.

Animal House has a messy, manic energy which its cast runs with as they know at least which direction they are heading. They blazed a trail for what followed but this film got there first.

Vulgar, but also incredibly funny with a truly wonderful performance from Belushi

[TheLittleSongbird · 8/10 · 25 September 2010]

Animal House is not my favourite comedy or anything, but I like it very much. I do like comedy, I like John Landis and I like John Belushi, so naturally I thought yeah I think I'll like this film. And I did. While light on plot and quite vulgar strictly speaking, it is still hugely enjoyable thanks to the performances. Animal House is beautifully filmed, has a good soundtrack and John Landis does a great job directing, while the sight gags are smart and the script has enough hilarious one-liners to keep you chuckling. As for favourite scenes, I have two specific favourites, the food fight and the wonderful rallying speech. The acting is very good, while Kevin Bacon, Tom Hulce, Peter Reigert and Donald Sutherland give great performances, it is John Belushi's film all the way as he gives one of his best ever performances in this film. In conclusion, very good film and funny. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Often imitated, never duplicated.

[Hermit C-2 · 10/10 · 25 May 1999]

You'll have to excuse me and some of the other proponents of 'National Lampoon's Animal House' if we seem a little defensive about the movie. That's because it's often not recognized as the superior comedy classic that it is. Instead, too often it is lumped in with the multitude of inferior films that it inspired, which is totally unfair.

Some of the conventional wisdom about 'Animal House' is absolutely right, though. John Belushi does give a bravura performance that is reminiscent of the great comics before him like Chaplin, Keaton (Buster, not Michael), the Marx Brothers, etc., and he does it with a wonderful economy of words. His character of "Bluto" Blutarsky is often emulated and imitated but many times the persons doing so have no idea what it was that made him and his performance so great.

Tim Matheson as "Otter" and his other frat house buddies were also prototypes that were much imitated too, and again often without success. Otter was the quintessential smooth talker, always working an angle on everybody, especially the ladies. When a woman tells him that his lovemaking wasn't that great, he cocks his head, points a finger at himself and mouths the words, "not great?" in mock disbelief. Before Tom Hanks got "Big" he made a career out of playing this character. Also John Vernon set a standard for straight men with his portrayal of the beleaguered Dean Wormer, plagued by his "zoo fraternity."

Not all of the movie's humor aims low, by any means; some of it is quite sophisticated. (Yes, you read it right.) The screenwriters and director John Landis did a great job evoking Kennedy-era America and they found a lot to laugh at. This comedy is an unqualified classic by the simplest definition-- it makes you laugh, long and loud.

What started it all- and still the best

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 3 June 2000]

This is the best college comedy ever made. Nothing has ever come close to comedic perfection, and never will again. The early bird director John Landis directs this film into greatness bringing stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Tom Hulce, Mark Metcalf and Donald Sutherland to the screen in brilliance. True, this film is just about a bunch of misfits defying authority in a campus of 1962, but that's what makes it so good, and original. Belushi, Metcalf, and others bring many of the laughs here, but it is mainly it's reputation that brings this film into hilarity. A landmark in cinema comedy. By the way, screenwriters Harold Ramis and Chris Miller originally were going to make this a film about Charles Manson called Laser Orgy Girls, so thank god Douglas Kenney came in and straightened this out to the right part.

Maybe Can't Really Be Appreciated Anymore

[pattersonsmith · 11 November 2002]

If you have only seen this movie on TV, you have not really seen this movie. One of the best movie experiences of my life was seeing this movie in the theater with a full house of college students. I have never heard an audience laugh so hard, and I was laughing with them. That experience can never be recaptured. I don't know why this movie doesn't make the midnight movie tour in college towns. That way it might have some of the same impact. Also when it came out in 1978 it is hard to explain how big John Belushi was unless you were there and saw it first hand. It's still funny on the small screen, but only if you see it uncut. Never watch it on a network, they cut out most of the jokes!

Lively and likeable

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 14 August 2018]

NATIONAL LAMPOON'S ANIMAL HOUSE is a lively and likeable frat house comedy which may well be the best of its type; it's certainly the most entertaining I've seen, with John Landis' clever direction adding immeasurably to the fun of the proceedings. This is certainly a more enjoyable production than something like AMERICAN GRAFFITI, that's for sure; the kind of film to blow the cobwebs away. The film offers an ensemble cast of performers, all of whom put in energetic turns, none more so than John Belushi whose towering performance dominates the proceedings. Elsewhere, there's a mix of fresh talent (Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, Kevin Bacon) and more seasoned actors in support (the ever-dependable John Vernon and Donald Sutherland, for instance). The film is, like other NATIONAL LAMPOON features, essentially a series of sketches and set-pieces, but they feel fresh and funny, and there's never a dull moment.

Laughs are on the "House"....

[Mister-6 · 10/10 · 24 August 1999]

Every successful movie has its myriad clones and imitators, but none of them ever come close to what made the original so good.

That's certainly true of "Animal House".

The laughs are all solid, especially when the main focus is in toppling the stoic pillars of decency and normality with a battle cry of "food fight!".

Pledges Pinto (Hulce) and Flounder (Furst) are good soldiers, making us laugh with their desire to fit in at first then, finally, to succumb to the madness and pillage and destroy with the other Deltas, led by Bluto (Belushi), who waylays all in his path.

No subsequent attempt to cash in on the "Animal House" success has ever made good in toppling the once and future king of the mountain. Who has ever come close to creating a creature as lovably destructive as Bluto Blutarsky? What other college movie's dean ever made Dean Wormer seem like an easygoing, laid-back guy? What college movie scene comes close to the introduction of the Deltas? The toga party? The horse in the Dean's office? The road trip? The final parade? The....

Well, space is limited but you get the idea.

Ten stars, and a crushed-beer-can-on-the-forehead salute to all involved with the subversive garbage that is "Animal House".

More power to you.

And remember, knowledge is good.

Wow...talk about a generation gap....

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 6 May 2011]

"Animal House" is a comedy classic and there have already been a bunch of reviews for it. So, instead of discussing the specifics, I want to relate what happened when I re-watch the film a few years ago. Now I have always loved "Animal House" and the film never fails to make me laugh. Even now, if my wife says 'Fawn Liebowitz', I can't help but laugh. So, when my oldest daughter got old enough to watch the film (which is 30, but I watched it with her when she turned 18), we watched it together. I KNEW she'd laugh hysterically....and she never did. In fact, when the film was over, she said 'it's okay...' and I was shocked. How could she not love the film?! Well, I think a lot of it happens to have a lot to do with when you grew up. Back in the late 70s, it worked GREAT but now here in 2008, it fell a bit flat. Wow...what a shock.

So, I assume that the film will definitely work better if you grew up around the time the film was made...though it is possible that my oldest is just a weird!

It all starts here

[BandSAboutMovies · 7/10 · 8 April 2019]

It's impossible to explain to anyone who wasn't around when this movie came out what its impact was. It changed comedy.

It came directly from the minds at the National Lampoon. In 1973's National Lampoon's High School Yearbook, writer Doug Kenney created the characters of Larry Kroger, Mandy Pepperidge, and Vernon Wormer, who by and large appear exactly the same in this film. Several of the stories of Lampoon writer Chris Miller also inspired this movie.

With an original script that was basically page after page of vomit, director John Landis was selected on the basis of his film The Kentucky Fried Movie. He added the idea that there had to be good guys and bad guys.

Originally, the cast was going to be Chevy Chase as Otter, Bill Murray as Boon, Brian Doyle-Murray as Hoover, Dan Aykroyd as D-Day (which makes sense, as the motorcycle-loving character is pretty much Ackroyd) and John Belushi as Bluto. Only Belushi would end up being in the film. At one point, Jack Webb was going to be Dean Wormer with Kim Novak as his wife, but he backed out.

At the time of filming, Belushi was only a star on Saturday Night Live and the studio wanted another star. Luckily, Landis was friends with Donald Sutherland and often babysat his son Kiefer. Thinking the film wouldn't be a success, he did it for a day rate versus points, which cost the actor around $14 million dollars.

That said, without Sutherland, the movie wouldn't have been made.

Much like the best of comedies - you will see this as a thread in most of my explorations of them - this is more of a series of vignettes than an overall narrative. The main story, though, concerns College Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon) and his battles against the sloppy and silly Delta Tau Chi fraternity.

My favorite part of this movie is something that was taken and used so many times by so many other lesser films: the final fates of many of the characters are revealed via text before the credits roll. For example, Babs becomes a tour guide at Universal Studios. Many of the films of John Landis have an ad for Universal Studios that ends by saying, "Ask for Babs". That was a secret joke that for a while would give lucky visitors a discount or even a free ticket.

Sadly, National Lampoon writer and editor P.J. O'Rourke blamed this movie for magazine's death. After Animal House's success, Hollywood came with money in hand, paying the writers more than they'd ever make at the magazine. But then, none of their scripts would be all that great, which hurt their careers and the reputation of the Lampoon.

If your review is too long....

[dchristrev · 10/10 · 15 July 2004]

you probably don't like teen sex comedies anyway. If you write more than 10 lines about this classic, you are taking it way too seriously. This is the King of Teen Sex Comedies, period. Anything that follows is/was a pretender or copycat. And I'll never understand why someone would spend so much time and space critiquing a film they don't like, from a genre they obviously don't appreciate. Virtually every actor plays his part realistically. I still get a huge kick out of Belushi's speech about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor. Or "Do you mind if we dance with yo dates? Or "mine is bigger....my cucumber." Lots of classic lines. Just enjoy it!

Animal House: Enjoyable but not the cult classic I expected

[Platypuschow · 7/10 · 25 October 2018]

Controversial one in 3....2...1.

Animal House is one of those infamous household name cult classics, yet despite my movie obsession it's taken me this long to get around to it.

It's been in the IMDB's top 250 and isn't far off going in there again, but what did I think?

I think, it's very overrated. Don't get me wrong Animal House was an enjoyable film and provided me with laughs and that feel good warmth that few films deliver these days but is it THAT good? I really don't think so.

It tells that commonly used fraternity storyline where it's the party animals that don't conform vs the snooty frat house and the "Powers that be". We'd seen it before this and we've seen it plenty of time since, it's a classic concept and usually a fairly fun one.

What really helps the film is its cast, it has a host of familiar and talented faces from those you can name to those you'll just recognise as being prominent character actors for the past number of decades.

Notable names would be John Belushi, Tim Matheson, Donald Sutherland and one of my earliest "Celebrity" crushes Karen Allen. Seriously, what an outstandingly naturally beautiful girl she was!

Though not as funny as I expected Animal House does have laughs and I totally see the appeal. What I don't see however is why it was met with such critical acclaim, it's a fun movie but why is it considered THAT good?

Animal House is a harmless little comedy but hardly groundbreaking even in the 70's.

The Good:

Incredible cast

Karen Allen #drool

Feel good charm

The Bad:

Simply not THAT funny

Weirdly could have used a bit of extra time

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

Knowledge is good

Real ladies use rubber gloves

Women commonly stand in front of windows in a state of undress

God delivers Playboy bunnies on demand.............now I get the appeal

Rape jokes are funny when they're about men

it's hard to believe this was once considered hilarious

[sherlock0856 · 1/10 · 12 July 2005]

I saw this movie on TV last night and was blown away by how relentlessly terrible it was, both in execution and content. It was interesting only as a reference point to the sensibilities of an earlier age. Since Animal House was apparently considered in 1978 to be the height of wit and daring, and since today in comparison with what might be called its pop culture progeny it appears either embarrassingly tame or lame, we can tell just how much the popular culture has evolved in the intervening time. There has been a sea change in received notions of what is cool since 1978, probably comparable to the change in such perceptions during the similar length of time between 1951 and 1978. In other words, its overtly anti-establishment themes and primitive ideas of transgressive humor make Animal House very much a product of its time. This movie can really only be appreciated as a poorly-acted and amateurishly-directed glimpse into the mindset of youngish Americans of another age. I know I'm ragging on this movie, but the humor in Animal House just doesn't translate into today's world, and on balance that is probably something for which we should be grateful.

toga! toga! toga!

[torcha46703 · 12 January 2002]

My favorite comedy and one of the all-time greats.Perhaps more memorable one-liners than any other movie.My fave lines were by Dean Wormer concerning "double secret probation" and his verbal chastisement of John "Bluto" Blutarski.... "Mr. Blu....MISTER BLU-TARSKI!!! ZERO POINT ZERO!!!!!" My regards for the late comic genuis with the 0.0 GPA.

Sick, depraved, juvenile, disgusting, lewd, perverted......

[Sonatine97 · 8/10 · 24 June 2000]

Yep, it must be Animal House!

The classic frat comedy of all time. A simple story of college life for a bunch of delinquents who seek solace with a an endless supply of beer, toga parties and loads of young girls.

It doesn't matter that the Delta House (the home of said delinquents), continually fail to pass their exams, for them sex & booze is all what life is about.

The movie is a perfect vehicle for Saturday Night Live star, John Belushi, who is allowed to show off his considerable talent as the biggest sicko of the Delta bunch - check out his impression of a Zit!!

But he is well supported by Tom Hulce, and surprisingly Donald Sutherland as the hippy professor with wayout theories.

Able actor, John Vernon, plays the Principle of the college and often the butt of the Delta House: finding a horse in his office is a classic piece of farce!

All in all, the film hangs together very well with a good script and superb visual jokes. John Landis must have a wild college life himself when he made this.

***/*****

This one gets a 4.0 for sure!

[pendragon679 · 10/10 · 1 May 2004]

John Landis's directorial debut, and John Belushi's first starring role make this screw-ball comedy about college life in the early 60's a must-see. I saw this picture for the first time when it was released to theaters and laughed my buns off; it still holds up today, almost 30 years later.

Every actor in the show gives a bravura performance, with stand-out debuts by the likes of Thomas Hulce, Tim Matheson, Karen Allen, Bruce Davidson, and others. In addition, there's a sense throughout the picture that we all knew these guys at one time or another in our lives. Shoot, I think I may have BEEN one or two of these guys at some point in my life. Of course, the picture revolves around Belushi's terrifically over-the-top Bluto Blutarsky; but you simply can't ignore characters like Boone, Otter, Niedermeyer, Gregg Marmalade, and my personal favorite, D-Day.

The writing on this picture is really far better than the loosely-structured plot first indicates. Each character is introduced neatly at their entrance; and, by extension, the other characters are set up by the entrances of their surrounding characters. For instance, when we first meet Belushi's character, he's holding a schooner of beer in one hand and drunkenly taking a leak on the Delta Tau Chi lawn. Right away, we know what the rest of these guys are going to be like. Then, when D-Day makes his entrance, driving his hawg through the front door and up the stairs to play the William Tell Overture on his throat before pulling a beer out of his jacket and popping the top, our fears are confirmed. Meanwhile, we get to meet the uptight, repressed, and mildly facsist other frat through similar vignettes. Kevin Bacon is particularly hilarious in his initiation ("Thank you, sir! May I have another?").

John Landis made his debut with this picture, and what a debut it was! His camera follows each of the characters and events at near breakneck speed, giving the audience little time to recover from one laugh before getting slapped in the head with another. Lots of natural lighting, and sharp, steady pacing with smooth transitions keep the story moving. Refreshingly, the film doesn't rely on over-the-top special effects to hold our attention. Then again, is there really any place for SFX in a picture like this?

The whole picture is one long laugh, from beginning to end. If you're a college grad, you'll forget what it was really like to have to work hard, study, and generally bust your tail to graduate. If you haven't yet gone to college, this picture will give you all the wrong ideas. On the other hand, you've gotta see this one, if for no other reason than to learn all the right (and wrong) things to do at a college party.

It's not a perfect movie, but who cares ...

[bmw300 · 7/10 · 19 December 2015]

Have you ever watched a movie where you know that the people and actors had a great time making it? This film has got to be a prime example of folks having a blast doing something they truly love doing. The really neat part is we, the viewing movie going public, get to see and enjoy the end result. Is it a perfect movie? Nope, and that is why I only gave it a 7 out of 10. But it ranks up there at the top of one of the funniest movies out there, at least in my book, John Landis had to be pinching himself at times to be the director of this mess, I mean film. Especially once the movie turns to the poor town trying to have a respectable parade, total bedlam ensues. Stuff is going nuts, and there is just no telling what is going to happen next. What parade has a fake sword wielding pirate running amok? Watch this movie. Have a laugh or two. It won't hurt, I promise. You just might have a great time.

Flawless

[DarrenRandle · 10/10 · 18 August 2022]

Easily one of the great films of all time. And proof that comedy does not get the respect it deserves. From the amazing script to the perfect casting, Animal House never fails to make you laugh, no matter how many times you re-watch this masterpiece. This is the one that set the blueprint for every raunchy comedy to follow, and none have come closer. Harold Ramis (Ghostbusters), Doug Kenney (Caddyshack), and Chris Miller (Multiplicity) penned the perfect script for Jon Landis (The Blues Brothers) to direct. And while John Belushi and Donald Sutherland may have been the stars on the marquee, Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark), Peter Reigert (Law & Order), Bruce McGill (Lincoln), Tom Hulce (Amadeus) Kevin Bacon (in his first movie) and the rest of the cast are perfect in the roles. National Lampoon's Animal House is now, and always will be, flawless storytelling!

Founding Father of This Genre of Film

[TomWCheetham1994 · 7/10 · 16 March 2017]

Animal House is the fantastic origin of an easy-watching genre of film. For a film that came out in the late 1970s the jokes and sense of humour throughout are very ahead of its time, and stands the test of time. Such an easy watch and a must see film for those, who like myself, are big fans of teen movies set within a college backdrop. Thoroughly enjoyable movie, and a great watch, not least for the importance of it for all future films of the ilk.

Class act

[rudicantfail · 10/10 · 27 March 2021]

Come on, one of the most iconic comedies of all time, a "must see" film; yet the overall rating is just 7.5?????? My goodness, how peoples tastes have changed! This is a classic, cult movie, and featuring the late and great John Belushi. It is one of the best. Good old retro humour, and far better than modern "comedies" of a similar ilk.

It's the Music, Much More Than The Madness

[Dan1863Sickles · 7/10 · 10 June 2005]

I'm not surprised that people are divided on this movie. Some say it's a cult classic, others say that it's massively over-rated. My take on ANIMAL HOUSE is that it's a movie that has to be understood in terms of the times -- not 1962, when the movie was set, but 1979, when the movie came out. I believe that the music, much more than the comedy, is what caused the film to become a sensational hit.

If you were in high school in the Seventies, forced to listen to gutless, spineless, empty album oriented rock like Fleetwood Mack and the Eagles, it was a staggering revelation to watch fraternity boys from just fifteen years ago partying to songs like "Louie Louie" by the Kingsmen. Still more shocking was the performance of "Shout" by Otis Day and the Knights. Try to imagine hearing that song for the first time if you were a kid who thought "rock" meant Stevie Nicks whining and warbling about "crystal visions" and Don Henley rasping listless, creepy nonsense about "some dance to remember, some dance to forget." The movie itself, as a movie, is rather episodic, and uneven. Some bits work, some don't. Belushi is sometimes screamingly funny, like when he smashes the folk singer's guitar with a casual "sorry." But again, notice how the real point is music -- Belushi is sacred in the movie only because he responds to this music like no one else. He's like a holy fool. He is the one who senses that folk music is a pointless dead end in pop culture. On the other hand, when "Shout" is going on he literally writhes in ecstasy on the floor. The shocking thing is that, for millions of teens at the time, this was not a melodramatic stunt -- he really captures what it feels like to hear that kind of rock and roll for the first time.

ANIMAL HOUSE is not really a great comedy. But in some ways it is the greatest rock and roll movie ever made -- miles ahead of gutless swill like Cameron Crowe's ALMOST FAMOUS.

42 years later it still puts me on the floor laughing

[meduzahollywood · 10/10 · 30 June 2020]

I can't say why I waited until now to re-watch this comedy classic. Could be because I still remember every line, every visual joke, every character as vividly now as I did when I first saw it.

Back in 1978 while attending UCLA I happened to walk past the National Theatre in Westwood one afternoon and noticed a sign in the box office window: "Theatre closed tonight for private screening." Returning later that evening with my roommate, we managed to sneak in with the crowd, without a clue what we would be watching. We had a hint that it might be something musical since we wound up seated behind Bette Midler and her boyfriend, an unknown Peter Reigert (Boone).

From the opening shot of Faber College's "Knowledge Is Good" to the closing credits, I had never / have never laughed so much in my life. As most of the audience, I am sure. A truly unforgettable experience and an unforgettable film.

Stuff I Learned At Faber College

[slokes · 7/10 · 2 October 2005]

* A golf ball makes a yummy crunchy sound like a giant Rice Krispie when you bite into it.

* The Germans didn't really bomb Pearl Harbor.

* When you peep through the windows of a sorority house, you cannot be seen by women undressing inside, not even when you bang the ladder you stand on against the house to move in for a better look.

* A bullet fired into a bottle from a few feet away will disintegrate upon contact, rather than passing through and injuring fleeing bystanders. This is true, I checked with the Warren Commission.

* Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life, son. However, it doesn't keep Flounder from scoring a really hot toga party date.

* Blacks are fun people as long as you don't wander into one of their bars.

* "Hey Paula" sounds really good on pot.

* A movie that employs lewd sex jokes, celebrates idiocy and acts of random meanness, loosely ties together unrelated comic episodes like a food fight and a vandalized parade with only a vague attempt at a plot, and ruthlessly attacks the upper class will be celebrated as a sine qua non cool classic, even by members of the upper class who would never give a Delta an even break in real life.

* Writing a cool movie theme song ("Animal House") was no ticket to immortality for Stephen Bishop. However, co-starring in the greatest five seconds of John Belushi's movie career was.

* When a devil and an angel fight for your soul, listening to the angel means you are probably gay.

* When wooing the dean's wife to bed, a toga with a tie is an irresistible combination.

* Being a preppy automatically subjects you to numerous sexual deficiencies.

* Jack Daniels can be chugged like Gatorade if you are in a lousy mood and need cheering up.

* Roommates at all-women colleges don't show each other pictures of their boyfriends.

* "Animal House" is a pretty fun way to spend 90-plus minutes despite its limitations, and I find myself watching it more often than I care to admit.

31 years have not treated this well.

[evergrowingbrain · 1/10 · 18 July 2009]

For the 4 people who read my twitter feed (and the 62 people who think that I might buy their porn/dating/entertainment services if they follow me too) I put a few of my thoughts down for them as I watched. My first tweet was "12 minutes in. Not laughed once yet. Should I have?" I mention laughing – I mean internal laughter too. I hadn't identified a joke, or a comedy situation by that point. Of course, I then identified that certain other things had been referencing this film – most notably an episode of Futurama called "robot house" when Bender enrolls in Mars University. One of the robots spends the whole time in a little beanie hat, which now becomes funnier, as I have now seen the reference material (I laughed a lot after first seeing One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest as it made the Simpsons so much funnier.) Next tweet, after the Futurama reference, was "36 minutes, I sort of smirked". I have no idea what I smirked at. Following this – "This film is so bad, I've stopped forward winding the adverts"

I suspect this was the first film to dare to show pretty girls with their tops off. However – the accessibility of boobs is now so easy, my standards are considerably higher. My tweet that the "topless pillow fight would have been better if they weren't all wearing MASSIVE granny pants" made me realize that this is something that would have been cutting edge in 1978.

I went a little controversial on my next one. "Belushi. Only remembered as good because he died early? With him on the guitar smashing at parties though". Everyone who has ever been jealous of the smarmy bloke who plays the guitar and has the girls cooing on his every note has wanted to do that. Otherwise, he is playing quite the most charmless and one dimensional character I've ever seen in cinema. Deeply unpleasant and unlikable. Anyone whose party trick is crushing a can on his own forehead gets no sympathy from me.

I found myself entirely sympathizing with the group of new kids – who have somehow made it to college (later I discover this is the only reason they aren't being drafted to fight in the Vietnam war, which I can sympathize with, but if going to college is the only way you are going to avoid getting killed in a ludicrous conflict, then surely you'd do all you can to stay there), they are searching for acceptance, friendship and like minded people. Unfortunately for them, they apparently only have two choices – the posh, rich and intelligent kids, or the complete brain dead losers. There was apparently no third choice. The posh kids wouldn't have them, and the losers couldn't care less, so the join Delta House, who are already on "double secret probation" (what the hell is that – how are you supposed to know you are in trouble if you aren't told about it?) After various illegal activities, underage drinking, underage sex, hints at date rape (we believe his conscience got the better of him) horse murder, in addition to academic issues, such as NOT GOING TO ANY CLASSES or having grade point averages of less than zero, they seem somewhat surprised and shocked when they are expelled.

I did identify a few attempts at humor in the process: • The inability to open a bra strap has now become such a cliché – and I know it wasn't a new joke when this film used it – that it is purely not funny. • The moment when Belushi's character puts pencils up his nose while in the Dean's office might have been funny, if he'd removed them on replacement of the Dean's glasses – although maybe the fact that I was expecting that to happen makes it funnier, although not that much funnier. • Sex with 13 year old girls isn't funny either. • Blatant racism in having a bunch of white kids walk into a bar full of black people, and immediately get threatened with flick-knives, - is that funny because my preconceptions are that this really isn't realistic behavior? The closest thing for me to an actual comedy moment, was when the house was being emptied and a cow was led down the front steps.

In protest at their expulsion, our (anti?)heroes decide to get their revenge, ruining the homecoming parade, an event that the good people of the town were very much enjoying, they assault, molest and pretty much attempted murder their way to notoriety, finishing off with driving their "death wagon" or some such into the platform holding the Dean and his wife. How am I supposed to have any sympathy for people who have no idea that they are in control of their own destinies, that they are guilty of all the charges against them, and completely deserved everything that happened to them? If there was any sense of injustice against Delta House, it might have been a different matter, but these idiots did themselves no favors at all.

31 years have not been kind to Animal House. I grew up with Alison Hannigan doing things with her flute in American pie. With Terrence and Philip singing about inappropriate relationships with their uncles in South Park the Movie. Having your trousers urinated on by a drunken lout (and accepting it) is gross, but not funny. Humour has moved on, and maybe going back in time to where it all started was never going to work for me.