This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Dog House Demotion
Plot Overview
In flight Taj Mahal Badalandabad—Hindi slang
for “land where people have big penises”—(Kal Penn)
regales us with his bio: “The
legendary Van Wilder was my mentor. He enabled me to become the king
of cool at Coolidge College.” Taj is now “going to England
to take the path of another great man, my father, and continue my
academic studies at Camford University.” When the gorgeous woman
(Olivia Scott) seated across the aisle notices him dousing his food
with Madame Madira's Homemade Hot Sauce, she (“I have a
thing for spices”) ravishes him. This sets the tenor of the
whole movie. His father (Kulvinder Ghir) was “The Sultan of
Snatch” in the free love 1960s.
At Camford U.
Taj of immigrant status is assigned to be “don”
(teaching assistant) of (boring) history and resident advisor of The
(suitably named) Barn. Following in the steps of his mentor (“What
would Van Wilder do?”) he organizes the ragtag residents into
a new fraternal order calling it the Cock and Bulls.
In the tradition of the
Dead Poets Society, he has his students toss out their history books,
and he leads them on a tour of historical sites and statues in the
big city.
The Cock and Bulls
challenge the reigning Fox and Hounds for the
coveted Hastings Cup awarded after a comprehensive academic cum athletic
competition. Hounds president the Earl of Grey, Pip Everett (Daniel
Percival) is personally invested in the cup and also in his
girlfriend Charlotte Higginson (Lauren Cohan) who is Taj's teaching
supervisor about to fall under his spell.
Ideology
Pip leads Taj down the garden path upon his first arrival. (Prov. 26:24-25) “He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up deceit within him; When he speaketh fair, believe him not: for there are seven abominations in his heart.” Throughout the movie bons mots just roll off of Pip's tongue, but he has “some anger issues.” He's “pompous, sexist, racist” and a lackluster dancer. He has an inflated ego and embodies the failings of his upper class.
(Prov. 26:26) “Whose hatred is covered by deceit, his wickedness shall be shewed before the whole congregation.” He despises Taj and his friends and plants a red herring of a purloined examination paper in their rooms. In the end he is found out, and that publicly.
(Prov. 26:27) “Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him.” To win the dog show, Pip plants some male virility enhancer in the food bowl of Taj's Bulldog Balzac so it will embarrass itself on stage with one of the bitches in heat. Taj, however, intercepts the tainted food and sets it before Pip's Great Dane Chauncey. What happens at the show isn't pretty. To score points in the badminton game, beautiful Cockney girl Sadie (Holly Davidson) of the Cock and Bulls bares her breasts to distract the other team's players. Unfortunately, it's her own (horny) teammates who get distracted.
Production Values
“” (2006) was directed by Mort Nathan. Its screenplay was written by David Drew Gallagher, with characters developed by Brent Goldberg and David Wagner. It stars Kal Penn, Lauren Cohan, Daniel Percival, Holly Davidson and Anthony Cozens. The actors were the strong suit of this movie. They were all good. Penn and the female lead Lauren Cohan even developed some chemistry together despite their limp lines. Of note are the young women in this film, all beauties every one. The dominant fraternity housed studs, of course, but the upstart had challenges to overcome in multiple areas. There's one closeup of Taj with his English Bulldog where their mugs resemble each other: ugly but adorable.
MPAA rated it R for pervasive crude sexual content, some nudity and language. These kids have shocking mouths and only one thing on their minds, but any sex scenes were discrete to the point of hardly even qualifying as sex scenes. Turn off the sound and the movie would be only mildly offensive. Part of it was filmed in Bucharest, Romania. Background music consisted of cute piano plunking. Although it's supposed to be a sequel, it works quite well as a stand alone.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
The consensus opinion of these collegiates is that, “Money and position make no difference when it comes to matters of the heart.” That being said, the movie does not explore the long term effects of this philosophy. To the contrary Charlotte's parents Martha (Cornelia Pavlovici) and Richard (Rupert Frazer) tell her there are advantages to marrying an earl. They themselves seem to have a stable marriage within their own station in life. At the Royal Literary Ball we encounter an old faculty couple in a long term stable marriage though the wife has the hots for younger men. And Taj's dad and mom (Shobu Kapoor) have a stable marriage within their Indian culture though they lack excitement in the bedroom department. So sex and giddy feelings are not presented here as the end-all of pairing up, younger opinions notwithstanding.
The humor in “Van Wilder 2” is geared to 13– to 14-year-old boys, from whom this movie is restricted, so it's basically a non-starter.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Well done action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Well, at least you can't see the strings. Video Occasion: For die-hard National Lampoon aficionados. Suspense: Keeps you on the edge of your seat. Overall movie rating: Three stars out of five.
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