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Printer-Friendly ModeAccepted barely passes test
August 25, 2006 —
Accepted is a flawed mess of a movie that somehow manages to be light-heartedly entertaining at the same time. Some clever gags and the wonderful Lewis Black stand apart from a plot that is beyond ridiculous, making for a pretty fun ride if one is able to ignore the glaring faults.
Justin Long plays Bartleby Gaines, a quick-witted but unsuccessful high school senior who is set to graduate at the start of the film. Unfortunately, his slacking ways have caused him to be rejected by every college he applied to. In order to appease his parents he hatches a nearly maniacal plot to start a fake university that will accept him.
Employing his friend Schrader to develop a fake Web site for the school, the scheme quickly escalates to a level that is out of control, and Bartleby and friends fix up a condemned psychiatric hospital to pass off as a small university. Soon though, due to an unplanned Web site detail that mails acceptance letters to Bartleby's fellow rejects who applied online, the school fills with eager students who he must deal with somehow.
Many of the best scenes in Accepted are the result of the casting of standup comedian Lewis Black, who plays a former educator who is now employed as the fake dean of the fake institution. He mainly plays himself, but it doesn't matter. He is the perfect person to play the part of a rebellious anti-authority figure who inspires young people to take an honest and humorous look at the world around them.
The love interest subplot is handled reasonably enough, but does nothing to differentiate itself from any similar plot in other movies. This is the first clue to Accepted heading in the direction of the generic, which is then crystallized by what is essentially a court scene, with Bartleby taking a stand in front of an accreditation committee. This scene near the conclusion of the movie is painful to watch, and is all too common in light-hearted comedies with a message. Bartleby's breakdown of what makes everything that has happened in the film meaningful is like when one has to explain a joke to someone who doesn't understand it - it loses its value.
Despite this, and the fact that such an undertaking as creating a fake college and making it legal is nigh impossible, Accepted is mostly a fun movie. There are plenty of laughs to be had, and the majority of the faults are excusable if the viewer is willing to sit back and find value in the messages, and not try to intellectualize what is mostly not intellectual.