The movie “College” follows three high school seniors, Kevin, Morris and Carter, on a weekend trip to Fieldmont University. “College” follows the standards of a college drinking movie. They have fun, then it gets bad, and then they get even with the bad guys.
Kevin is a photographer for his
school paper. He thinks of himself as a responsible, slightly uptight person who can have fun without going crazy. His girlfriend calls him a loser. This is exactly why she dumps him just before the trip so she can enjoy the rest of her senior year. He sets out on the trip with intent to prove to her that he is not boring and that he can go crazy.
Morris is the intellectual geek who is being forced to apply to Fieldmont by his strict parents. He is hopeless with girls and looks like he should still be in middle school, not high school. The
only friend he has is Kevin, but even that friendship is undermined by Carter’s presence. Morris’ future depends on a scholarship interview that weekend, or at least that’s what his parents told him.
Carter is the obligatory obnoxious fat guy who is in most college drinking movies. All he thinks about is getting laid and partying. He does not seem to have a filter between his mouth and his brain. What spews out of his mouth either can be annoying or extremely funny.
After a disastrous dorm room assignment, the three decide to strike out on their own and end up being taken in by a fraternity. The Beta Chi frat is the worst fraternity on campus. They have a history of brutal hazing which resulted in a suspension when one of their pledges ended up in a full body cast with his jaw wired shut. They still keep him around to throw things at him. The leader of the Betas is Teague, a “Fight Club” Brad Pitt look-alike, who decides to have a little fun with the “pre-frosh.” From stealing their money, to housing them in a basement with leaky pipes and rats, to deserting them in the country with no clothes, Teague thinks up many ways to torture the three.
Things get even worse when three sorority girls decide that they prefer the three boys to anyone else. One of the girls, Kendal, is one of Teague’s old one-night stands and she is disillusioned by men, especially men she knows have lied to her. But, of course, Kevin is lying to her as well when he tells her that he and his friends are freshmen. Teague then sets out to make Kevin’s life a living hell.
On many points, this movie sets out just like any college or teen movie. The moral, on the other hand, hits you over the head, unlike other college movies where the moral or point of the story is buried under the sex and drinking. The moral is to like who you are and not let others influence your actions.
This movie has been called the modern version of Animal House. It is not quite that. It was made to be an entertaining movie. It accomplished that, no matter what movie was its inspiration.