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Accepted
Universal Pictures


7.7

based on 27 reviews
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How did we calculate this?

based on 28 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for language, sexual material and drug content

Starring Justin Long, Adam Herschman, Jonah Hill, Blake Lively, Mark Derwin, Columbus Short, Kellan Lutz, and Maria Thayer

High school senior Bartleby "B" Gaines is on his way to scoring eight out of eight rejection letters from colleges, which isn't going to go over big with Mom and Dad. At least he's not alone in the exclusion. Several of his crew of outcast friends are in the same, college-less boat. So how does a guy facing a bleak career please his parents and get noticed by dream girl Monica? Simple. Open his own university. (Universal Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Adam Cooper Bill Collage Mark Perez (also story)
DIRECTED BY:	Steve Pink
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: November 14, 2006 Theatrical: August 18, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	90 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

It's one of the few genuinely funny comedies in a dismal movie summer.

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

If you can lighten up for an hour and a half, the film delivers one good laugh after another.

Variety Justin Chang

Sweetly amusing, gently anarchic and never mean-spirited.

Entertainment Weekly Scott Brown

Accepted's winning dumbness and breezy bons mots save it from the pit.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

Low of brow and pure of heart, the movie plays like "Animal House" extra-lite, and as such it's decent indecent fun.

Film Threat Pete Vonder Haar

How much you join in will depend on how big a fan you are of the collegiate comedy formula, how many times you've seen "Animal House" and "Caddyshack," and how much you hate Long in those smarmy Mac commercials.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

An absurd little trifle, but it does have a kind of buoyant, punky energy.

The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen

After a very funny start, there just isn't enough content to fill the feature-length curriculum.

Village Voice Scott Foundas

Accepted is an inspired premise in search of a movie: What starts out as a scabrous takedown of academic bureaucracy ends up yet another modestly rousing underdog story about the little slacker that could.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Keith Phipps

The ideal viewer of Accepted probably won't have seen any college comedies before. Or any slobs-vs.-snobs movies like "Caddyshack." For those who have, it's kind of a snore.

Premiere Ethan Alter

One could argue that you shouldn't expect a teen comedy to offer a nuanced depiction of the role of education in public life, but in response I'd refer you to "Election" and "Clueless."

The New York Times Nathan Lee

Accepted will make for a passable alternative to sold-out shows of "Snakes on a Plane," but it's a disappointing debut for the director Steve Pink.

USA Today Claudia Puig

Mostly, it wallows in partying with a capital P.

Chicago Reader J.R. Jones

Sublimely stupid.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

A mildly funny PG-13 effort that is just dying to release an R- or unrated DVD version of itself. That way all the pool party sequences can lay off the false modesty.

New York Daily News Elizabeth Weitzman

Like its underachieving protagonist, Steve Pink's teen comedy Accepted flashes just enough charm to get by but is too lazy to really make anything of itself.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Even if you're willing to overlook the preposterous plot holes in its premise, Accepted pushes its luck in its final half-hour.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Paradoxically fast-talking and laid back, Long's Bartleby appears to be the illegitimate child of Groucho Marx and Ferris Bueller, one whose schemes are far more impressive than his deeds.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

While I have no problem with slackers making me laugh, when they start preaching, that's when my ears close and my eyes roll.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Stephen Cole

The humour in Accepted is maddeningly safe.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

If all this were anarchically funny, its shambling idiocy could be forgiven.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

Has neither the raucous energy and impudence of "Animal House," the defiance of "If ...," nor the grace and wit of "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle."

Washington Post Adriane Quinlan

Take the cast of 1978's "Animal House" and 1984's "Revenge of the Nerds," toss them on a desert island, watch them breed and enroll their raucous, kvetching offspring at a college for rejects. A fluffy teen comedy, Accepted gets annoying fast.

Empire Simon Braund

Mildly amusing at best and a criminal waste of a great concept.

Wall Street Journal Joanne Kaufman

Go right ahead and skip this one at the Cineplex. You've got my word: It won't be on the final.

Austin Chronicle Brian Clark

It's an obvious nod to "Rock 'n' Roll High School" that mostly serves as a grim reminder of how far comedies about the education system have fallen.

New York Post Kyle Smith

A campus comedy that's as dull as bong water, Accepted is like the product of a community college filmmaking class, remedial division.

The average user rating for this movie is 7.7 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Louis's brother gave it an8:
Not the funniest movie I've seen, but hilarious nonetheless. Definently worth buying.

Ek-o gave it a7:
Its watchable, but not great.

Michael B. gave it a7:
I thought this film would be awful, but it really exceeded my expectations. It's not funny in the over-the-top American Pie sort of way we've come to expect from the teen comedy genre, but pretty funny nonetheless. Lewis Black delivers a great performance, but should have had more screen time. Definitely worth a rent.

Chad S. gave it a5:
In this movie universe, community colleges don't exist. An argument can be made that "Accepted" is science fiction, like Phillip Roth's "The Plot Against America"(highbrow sci-fi has the snobby cachet of being labeled "speculative fiction"), this story takes place in an alternate history, in which the republicans seemingly have won the battle to eliminate two-year institutions. After Bartleby (Justin Long) gets the shaft from seven four-year institutions, and curiously, there is no mention of j.c.'s as a logical alternative to the service industry. "Accepted" isn't clever enough to follow through with its somewhat appealing premise of creating a fake college (too much time is spent on Bartelby's pursuit of Monica), but it does have some clever references to films like "Shattered Glass"(fake journalist) and "This is Spinal Tap"(fake documentary). On second thought, maybe South Harmon Institute of Technology is supposed to be a disparagement against community college itself.

Brian Doty gave it a9:
Cant give a movie with Lewis Black screaming, "Pimps and w*****!" a bad score.

Scott F. gave it a10:
I thought this movie was, at first far fetched, but after watching it got me thinking that college is not a bad idea. I found the film very easy to follow and with a clear plot. I recommend this movie to all college students as well as higher education teachers and trainers because of the thinking “out side the box” kind of education. Well written and well acted out and very believable.

Andrew gave it a10:
This movie was hilarious. I though it would mostly be funny for Lewis Black, but it was funny everywhere else.

Accepted Universal Pictures

Accepted
Universal Pictures