Old School
User Score
7.3 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 82 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 66 out of 82
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 82
  3. Negative: 8 out of 82

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  1. DaveF.
    Oct 22, 2005
    4
    A big disappointment. Everyone was saying, "you gotta see this movie!" Maybe Will Farrell flailing around with a dart in his neck is funny if you work with zoo animals? This movie is a wannabe Animal House, and its attempts at humor range from sad to irritating. This isn't coming from some highfalutin critic who doesnt appreciate lowbrow jokes. I laughed non-stop at The Longest Yard and The 40 Year old Virgin. If you want silly, raunchy humor, rent one of those two.… Expand
  2. Starfox
    Aug 25, 2003
    4
    Stars out well enough, with some good well-rounded characters, has some minor laughs throughout but in the end really goes nowhere. They could have done so much more with the premise, but it's like they ran out of ideas (of which there are many possibilities) and just sentamentalized it. It's actually much sweeter than I expected, which is a plus.
  3. DavidG.
    Oct 21, 2005
    3
    I don't get it. A few funny moments and a lot of pap.
  4. OldCrap
    Jun 26, 2003
    2
    It doesn't take much to make you people laugh. There were a few funny parts and all, however, these were the same old jokes. I have seen movies like this that were much funnier. The movie is slapped together and scenes seem to cut from one to another while someone is still speaking. Go rent Something About Mary and then watch Old School and you will see how truly unfunny and unoriginal this movie really is. There is one scene that is totally stolen from an episode of Seinfeld. BTW: do not dare compare this movie to Animal House as I have seen before. That is just disrespectful.… Expand
  5. RichardS
    Oct 15, 2006
    1
    1 vote for Will Ferrell, at least he knows what comedy is. His pratfalling and stupidity is funny. Everything else is beyond bad. Absolutely hateful rip off of Animal House with maybe 4 smirks all film, all Ferrell.
  6. TylerC.
    Mar 15, 2004
    0
    Don't ever, ever, compare this crap to Animal House. So many people that I know talk about how funny this movie was but I kept waiting and waiting for the first joke until an hour later I had to turn the movie off because of how stupid it was. WHAT was so funny about this movie?? Nuthin but dead air!
  7. YourFellowMan.
    Feb 27, 2003
    0
    Ivan Reitman, who helped Howard Stern to brilliantly glorify his pathetic life on the big screen in "Private Parts", is back on board for this one as Executive Producer. Will Ferrell streaking is funny and Andy Dick is great but this men-behaving-badly movie turned sour on me when it turned to Pole-bashing. Why is "comedy" masked as "hate speech" considered acceptable in Hollywood? A 90-something character named "Blue" is revealed to be of Polish heritage right around the time he attaches a cinder block to his genitals. The laughs continue when it is later revealed that he can he score no higher than a "o" on a fraternity pledge test. … Expand
  8. StanS.
    Jan 12, 2004
    0
    I usually Like movies like this. But this one just doesn't have the jokes - it wasn't funny. "American Pie 2" was funnier. :( Don't waste your time with this one.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
54 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 32 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 32
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 32
  3. Negative: 5 out of 32
  1. The New Yorker
    Reviewed by: David Denby
    70
    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]
  2. ReelViews
    Reviewed by: James Berardinelli
    63
    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
  3. Chicago Reader
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Rosenbaum
    80
    Starts out silly, gets sillier by the minute, and frequently had me and most of the people around me in stitches.
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