Animal House
Animal House
(1978)
A Review by Grant Kanigan
Directed by: John Landis
Written by: Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney,
Chris Miller
Starring: Tom Hulce, John Belushi, Tim Matheson
Peter Riegert, Kevin Bacon, Donald Sutherland
Rating: R
Release Date: July 28th, 1978
 |
| The Animals of Animal House © 1978 - Universal Pictures |
Animal House follows two young freshmen at their State college; Kent Dorfman, (Stephen Furst), and Larry Kroger, (Tom Hulce), on their quest to find acceptance at one of the many Fraternity houses. After some cruel and unwarranted mockery by the elitist fraternities, the young men soon find acceptance in the weird, unique and ridiculous Delta Tau Chi fraternity. Filled with a cast of characters straight out of the psych ward, the Delta Tau Chi's antics soon fall onto the radar of the arrogant and mean Dean Vernon Wormer. With the help of the elitist fraternity brothers, played by James Daughton and Kevin Bacon, the three plot to expel the downtrodden fraternity via the Dean's double secret probationary period. If the Delta Tau Chi don't clean up their act and raise their grades, they'll be out of college for good.
Although most of the characters are whip-smart and have street smarts as well as book smarts, they're devil-may-care attitude raises the ire of those around them. Yet they're all young, unmarried and still yearning for adventure - not ready to give into the monotony of every day North American life, and there's nothing wrong with that - life is what you make it, and you might as well enjoy yourself while you're here. Aside from a dated, thoroughly creepy and unfunny scene in which Kroger courts an underage woman, the Delta Tau Chi's antics are relatively harmless. Like Kurt Cobain said, "the duty of youth is to challenge corruption," and that's just what the group attempts to do. The Dean is a stuffy man, unconcerned with the quality of education or the worth of what's being taught at his college. He's merely concerned with the amount being brought in by tuition, and consequently the worth of his college's image. Delta Tau Chi are simply challenging him on that point, unafraid of the implications such challenges may or may not have on their future. Delta Tau Chi are rebelling against the fascist and braindead culture that surrounds them, fighting for a unique and meaningful voice in their future, through telling everyone to stop taking every little thing so damn seriously.
Overall, Animal House has a minimal plot that mainly sets up gags relevant to a collegiate atmosphere. Yet, its punkish rebelliousness gives the humour a heft other comedies don't usually have. The actors, as well, exhibit unique and ridiculous personalities. Tom Hulce, (sublime in the wonderfully theatric Amadeus), is perfect as a nerdy and innocent Freshman. As the idiotic and angry young elitist, Kevin Bacon is the perfect antagonist. Yet, in the best performance of his career, John Belishi tops them all. Subtle when he should be loud, and loud when it's the most unexpected, Belushi's comedic timing is brilliant, unconventional and absolutely hilarious. As John Blutarsky, Belushi's performance is full of gleeful abandon and confidence, transitioning the film from mere comedy classic to a relevant entry in the canon of cinema.
In closing, Animal House is about every young person's quest to find out what's meaningful in their lives, and whether or not it's something they must go about alone, or with a group of like-minded renegades. If you follow the crowd, you're likely to go nowhere; yet the point of Delta Tau Chi is to go against the grain, and to bring different minds together to create a unique and fun atmosphere. Like Nietzsche said, "the surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently," for Delta Tau Chi, nothing is held high, (or low for that matter), they're just here to raise hell and have a good time.
Grant's Rating: 5/5 Stars
John Belushi in Animal House: "Bluto's a zit"
Comments