Old School
DreamWorks Distribution | Release Date: February 21, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
14
Negative:
5
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
Baltimore SunJay Boyar
The whole plot is a shambles. And yet none of this matters much when you're laughing as hard as this film makes you laugh. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Starts out silly, gets sillier by the minute, and frequently had me and most of the people around me in stitches. Read full review
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
In terms of sheer belly-laugh count, this one's in the same plentiful company as "There's Something About Mary" and "Road Trip." Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
It's blissfully, pants-wettingly funny from beginning to end. Read full review
80
Film ThreatKevin Carr
Will Ferrell is a fearless comedian, and he commits completely to his insanity in the film, and that makes it work. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
It's also a message movie, about as weighty as Lara Flynn Boyle and twice as absurd. But I'd like to report that I had an excellent time. Read full review
70
The New YorkerDavid Denby
It’s party time, and the movie is wild and crude without being mean--it’s a comedy of infantile regression, “Animal House” for grownups. [17 March 2003, p. 154]
70
Los Angeles TimesManohla Dargis
The disconnect between what men say and what they do makes Old School funnier than most of its gags and it also invests the movie with curious pathos. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Ferrell owns the screen. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyChuck Wilson
The 1978 frat-house classic "Animal House," starring the late, great John Belushi, is the model for testosterone-mad comedies such as this, and while it hasn't that film's scope or finesse, Old School does have Ferrell, a man clearly in touch with his inner Belushi. Read full review
63
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Old School is exactly what director Todd Phillips intends for it to be: low-brow, moronic to a fault, and occasionally side-splittingly funny. Read full review
63
New York PostMegan Lehmann
Ultimately, the immensely personable and talented lead actors manage to push aside the disquieting notion that this group of men are so emotionally stunted that they're happy to abandon their wives and children for the sake of a party. Read full review
63
USA TodayMike Clark
In lieu of a toga party, one scene treats us to an octogenarian fraternity member wrestling two topless townie lookers slathered in KY Gel. Hey, there's no stopping progress. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis Harvey
This year's kinder, gentler "Animal House." Read full review
60
Film ThreatRick Kisonak
A good laugh is almost never a bad thing and almost every frame of Old School is grade A goofball fun. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
To call the haphazard string of gags a story is to give it far too much credit, but it is funny in a blunt, profane frat boy way, thanks to the bulldozing energy of Ferrell, the smarmy manipulations of Vaughn and the anything-for-a-laugh excess of Phillips. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Under Reitman's deanship, Ferrell lets his freak flag fly and Vaughn unlooses a notably funny, light-on-his-feet lunkheadedness. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A deliberately stupid movie whose crazy charm wins you over in the end. Read full review
50
Austin ChronicleKimberley Jones
Phillips and co-writer Scot Armstrong waste too much time on a silly love-interest subplot for Wilson; that time is much better served by the frat-boy idiocies, like Frank beer-bonging himself into streaking. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineAngel Cohn
The frat brothers have some surprisingly touching moments, and their diverse but perfectly matched personalities generate a fairly steady stream of laugh-out-loud moments. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
Speaking of funny things, director Todd Phillips has been down this path before in "Road Trip." There, toiling in the same lame genre, he actually showed a hint of comic ingenuity. Here, the hint has dwindled to a hoarse whisper. Read full review
50
The New York TimesA.O. Scott
Like a half-empty glass of Coke that's been sitting out for a couple of days; sure, it looks like cola, but one sip tells you exactly what's missing. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
The saving grace of Old School is that it has about a dozen funny moments. These moments aren't mildly funny or chuckle funny but really funny. Read full review
50
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Only fitfully funny, except when Ferrell is onscreen -- then you won't stop laughing. Read full review
50
Portland OregonianKim Morgan
With little cohesion and no respect for the editing process, Old School often feels like someone threw film clips on the floor and strung them together willy-nilly. Read full review
40
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
A comedy with a terrific premise and little else. Read full review
40
Washington PostRita Kempley
A dumb guy comedy about dumb guys by dumb guys and for dumb guys. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMark Caro
The movie is never more than the sum of its scattershot jokes; it's sloppily put together, with scenes seemingly cut mid-dialogue. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
Old School has all the ingredients of an uproarious campus comedy, but it lacks a boisterous short-order cook who could whip up a food fight or three. Read full review
30
Village VoiceEd Park
A flatland of lowest-common-denominated retro-collegiate wackiness. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The movie has been slapped together by director Todd Phillips, who careens from scene to scene without it occurring to him that humor benefits from characterization, context and continuity. Otherwise, all you have is a lot of people acting goofy. Read full review
25
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
If you're going to be offensive, by all means be offensive. Be tasteless! Be "There's Something About Mary." But at least stick to your guns, and don't wuss out when it counts. Read full review
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