Old School

This early romp from Joker director Todd Phillips is a spirit-lifting scream. A well-scripted frat-boy flick with a twist, it has a tale that's so irrepressible that it's hard not to warm to its infantile charms. Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and Vince Vaughn let it all hang out (in Ferrell's case, quite literally) as bored and disillusioned buddies who try to recapture the fun of their college years by establishing their own off-campus fraternity. While Wilson's dry comic style only really comes to life during the film's bolder set pieces, Vaughn and Ferrell are such natural clowns that they up the tempo whenever they're on screen. Of course it's no great stretch for star Vaughn to do sleazy, sharp wit; neither is Ferrell a stranger to slapstick. However, the two combined are a chuckle-inducing delight, taking the film beyond the realm of just another Animal House carbon copy.