Van Wilder
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: April 5, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
26
METASCORE
Generally unfavorable reviews based on 24 Critic Reviews
Positive:
1
Mixed:
8
Negative:
15
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
63
Boston GlobeLoren King
Reynolds is the best thing about Van Wilder. Read full review
60
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
The film's sheer likability and very impressive gag-to-giggle ratio derive more from sweetness and sharpness than from shit jokes. Read full review
50
TV Guide MagazineSteve Simels
While not for every taste, this often very funny collegiate gross-out comedy goes a long way toward restoring the luster of the National Lampoon film franchise. Read full review
50
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Studded with Lampoon/John Hughes anachronisms. Read full review
50
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
The result is a movie that is both laugh-out-loud funny and cringe-worthily silent. Read full review
50
VarietyScott Foundas
There's nary a comic idea in Van Wilder that isn't ripped off from a recent Farrelly brothers movie. But that doesn't stop Van Wilder from being very funny, provided you're not easily offended. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerEllen A. Kim
The gags on which it rests its laughs have been lifted from every other raucous comedy, campus-oriented or not. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
The laugh-out-loud jokery is in short supply, and Reynolds and Reid's kicky charm only goes so far. Bluto Blutarsky, we miss you. Read full review
40
The New York TimesDave Kehr
What's lacking is the sense of structure that might have made Van Wilder more than a meandering succession of random gags. Read full review
38
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
An unabashedly bad movie full of cliches, claptrap, fairly good rock 'n' roll and stomach-turning gross-out gags. Read full review
30
Los Angeles TimesGene Seymour
Those 24-and-unders who are looking for their own "Caddyshack" to adopt as a generational signpost may have to keep looking. Read full review
30
New Times (L.A.)Bill Gallo
Merely labeling National Lampoon's Van Wilder "sophomoric" or "vulgar" doesn't do justice to the perpetrators' dedication. Read full review
25
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Laughter for me was such a physical impossibility during National Lampoon's Van Wilder that had I not been pledged to sit through the film, I would have lifted myself up by my bootstraps and fled. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Has to go down as a failed comedy. It's just not enough of a comedy. Read full review
25
Baltimore SunChris Kaltenbach
A very funny movie ... in some alternate universe, maybe.
25
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
A movie that shouldn't be allowed on the same campus as "Animal House."
25
Miami HeraldCharles Savage
This utter waste of time has next-to-nothing to do with the infinitely wittier golden-age National Lampoon movies. Read full review
25
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Even by teen gross-out movie standards Van Wilder makes "Sorority Boys" look like "Some Like It Hot." Read full review
20
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
Reynolds and Reid's white-bread romance begs to be left on the cutting-room floor, but then again, so does just about every other scene in Van Wilder, which distinguishes itself only in featuring a level of ejaculate rarely found outside of hardcore porn. Read full review
20
Chicago ReaderBill Stamets
Painfully unfunny. Read full review
10
Film ThreatMichael Dequina
Much too aggressively juvenile crass. Read full review
10
Washington PostMichael O'Sullivan
The movie is really just an elaborate excuse to show repeated close-ups of an elephantine dog scrotum. Read full review
10
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Painfully flat gross-out comedy. Read full review
0
New York PostLou Lumenick
This is the sort of low-grade dreck that usually goes straight to video -- with a lousy script, inept direction, pathetic acting, poorly dubbed dialogue and murky cinematography, complete with visible boom mikes. Read full review
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