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Dead Man on Campus
Metascore
27 out of 100

Generally unfavorable - based on 14 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 14
  3. Negative: 8 out of 14
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  1. Variety
    Reviewed by: Joe Leydon
    70
    Although it falls far short of fulfilling its full potential as a dark comedy of desperation, Dead Man on Campus is a modestly amusing trifle that merits a passing grade as lightweight entertainment.
  2. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Sandra Contreras
    60
    The story's not much, but this dark comedy contains moments of unexpected wit.
  3. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Anita Gates
    60
    A predictably dumb movie made for very young audiences, playing to youth's love of excess and loaded with masturbation jokes.
  4. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    50
    The bad news is that the opening credits, which make sick and darkly comic allusions to suicide, are the best thing about the film.
  5. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Lisa Alspector
    50
    This limp 1998 comedy tries hard to be both irreverent and ethical by suggesting that deceit motivated by self-interest is OK as long as no one gets hurt.
  6. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Owen Gleiberman
    42
    As a satire of new-style collegiate types, this MTV production actually evinces a few germs of rancid wit.
  7. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    38
    Unfortunately for the poor viewer trapped into sitting through this 95 minute mess, the humor is both conventional and unfunny, the script never takes any chances, and the ending is a cop-out.
  8. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    25
    The overall premise, involving mental illness and suicide, isn't all that funny, at least not in practice, and the picture begins to seem labored and long.
  9. San Francisco Examiner
    Reviewed by: G. Allen Johnson
    25
    Dead Man on Campus, a supposed black comedy produced by MTV, is simply awful.
  10. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marc Savlov
    20
    A dark comedy caught in a white-light washout, it's neither mean enough to be funny, nor funny enough to mean much.
  11. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ron Stringer
    20
    The fault lies mostly with the writers, who consistently come up short on wit and imagination enough to finish, let alone flesh out or polish, a joke.
  12. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Keith Phipps
    10
    It's all handled so poorly that it comes off as more ghoulish than anything else, although those who find the word "bong" instantly entertaining and are easily distracted by the presence of flickering images may be amused.
  13. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Kevin Thomas
    10
    Under Alan Cohn's straight-on direction, the film, written by various hands, huffs and puffs mightily just to keep a strenuously labored plot going.
  14. The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
    Reviewed by: Liam Lacey
    0
    The product of a first-time director and writers who have no sense of scene structure or shape, or even a discernible sense of humour.
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