- #NATIONAL LAMPOON VAN WILDER THE RISE OF TAJ MOVIE#
- #NATIONAL LAMPOON VAN WILDER THE RISE OF TAJ FULL#
These days, the Lampoon movies have titles such as Dorm Daze 2 and Pledge This! that are fittingly more porno-esque than National Lampoon-esque. Taj is a far cry from heyday of the National Lampoon series. Sure, a part of the real life experience is drinking, sex, and dick and fart jokes, but if real life imitated the movie’s scale, we’d have a civilization that would resemble Idiocracy. Which begs the question, “does imitate life or does life imitate ?” Much like the rest of the “frat boy” humor sub genre, the Rise of Taj seemingly imitates fictitious pre-conceptions of college life.
#NATIONAL LAMPOON VAN WILDER THE RISE OF TAJ FULL#
By doing so, it supports an amoral world full of people who operate on a sub-human level. However, the story is merely an excuse to exploit and glorify the supposed debauchery of the college experience. After graduating from Van Wilder 101, Taj (Kal Penn) heads to Camford University in England (for whatever reason) and joins up with a bunch of misfits to put the frat boys in their place. It’s the kind of trash that makes you weep for the future of humanity. Make no mistake about it, The Rise of Taj is the epitome of cinematic smut, and it’s not even the shamefully enticing kind of smut. Says Taj, "You want to exploit me economically?" Too bad there aren't more jokes like that and all too many involving the words "diarrhea face.To engage in even a negative discussion about National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj would be giving the film much more attention than it deserves. "Let's settle this like my ancestors did," says Pipp during the climactic fencing battle. The only things that interrupt the tedium are a few racially provocative quips like the kind preferred by Kumar (he gets his own sequel next year). Even the requisite dog-ejaculate joke elicits nary a titter. Appearing in no particular order, the scenes are so slack and lazy, they could have been improvised on the spot, a strategy that might work for Christopher Guest's cast but yields only anguish here. Van Wilder 2's sense of numbing familiarity is not enhanced by director Mort Nathan's apparent unfamiliarity with the entire filmmaking process. Determined but still dirty-minded, Taj also woos Charlotte (Lauren Cohan), the beautiful girlfriend of his arch-rival Pipp (Daniel Perceval). The newly formed Cock and Bulls competes with their social betters to win a university competition. Old School, Taj organizes his own fraternity with some misfit students who are, conveniently enough, also one-note stereotypes (e.g., a Cockney trollop, a feisty Irishman). Following the noble tradition established by the characters in
Upon arriving at an English university to begin his graduate studies (with Britain played by Romania), he is snubbed by the campus's most elite fraternity, the Fox and Hounds. Having absorbed the lessons of his hero Van, Taj displays more swagger in his second journey through the halls of academe. Van Wilder 2 returns Penn to a more primitive level, and the fact that he can't be bothered to maintain Taj's accent with any consistency suggests that Penn is embarrassed to be trading in stereotypes once again. Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, a far smarter comedy that combined the usual stoner and bathroom humour with more pointed gags about race.
The Namesake - relished the chance to send up those clichés in 2004's Indeed, Penn - soon to be seen in a non-comedic role in Mira Nair's adaptation of Jhumpa Lahiri's With his exaggerated accent and overexcitable manner, Taj is a stereotype as crude as everything else in the movie. Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj is a showcase for another character, Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Kal Penn), an East Indian student who would do anything to have Van's prowess at seducing busty co-eds. While never very picky about his projects, even Reynolds had the good sense to stay away from this one.
#NATIONAL LAMPOON VAN WILDER THE RISE OF TAJ MOVIE#
Van Wilder will be disappointed to discover that this sequel answers none of the questions left unanswered by the original film, questions such as: "Can someone die of a laxative overdose?" and "Can canine semen really be used as a pastry filling?" A minor hit upon release in 2002 but a steady seller on DVD ever since (partially because it bore the imprimatur of National Lampoon, the once-glorious humour magazine that now pretty much exists only as a brand name), the puerile campus comedy helped launch the movie career of Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds. Starring Kal Penn, Lauren Cohan and Daniel PercivalĪll the frat boys, hoseheads and mouth-breathers who adored