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Stealing Harvard
Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia Pictures


5.1

based on 25 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 12 votes
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, language and drug references

Starring Jason Lee, Tom Green, Leslie Mann, Dennis Farina, Megan Mullally, Richard Jenkins, John C. McGinley, and Chris Penn

A man (Lee) turns to a life of crime to pay for his niece's first year at Harvard College.

GENRE(S):	Crime
WRITTEN BY:	Peter Tolan (also story) Martin Hynes
DIRECTED BY:	Bruce McCulloch
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 18, 2003 Video: February 18, 2003 Theatrical: September 13, 2002
RUNNING TIME:	83 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...

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

While Stealing Harvard may be a chucklehead comedy, Lee is oddly touching and funny. Mostly because, unlike Green, he's not aggressively trying to make us laugh.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

Together, Mr. Lee and Mr. Green have a daft comic energy, and they are assisted by game performances from the rest of the cast.

LA Weekly John Patterson

Whenever Green shows up to do his semi-improvised, non-acting shtick (detaching pit bulls from testicles, kamikaze wheelchair rides, etc.), this otherwise sprightly and intermittently amusing movie suddenly feels like a ship dragging its anchor.

New Times (L.A.) Luke Y. Thompson

No one in a McCulloch movie is ever normal -- most of the humor comes from characters saying or doing the weirdest thing you could possibly come up with in any given circumstance, and if that kind of humor's your bag, there's frequently a lot to enjoy in the bizarre antics of Green and Jason Lee,

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Had Stealing Harvard merely been a stupid movie about people stuck in a string of silly moments, it could have gotten by on charm. As written by Peter Tolan and directed by Bruce McCulloch (''Kids in the Hall'') it's a stupid movie about stupid people.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Lee's understated performance is a small treat.

Film Threat David Grove

After watching this movie, you get the feeling that there’s a lot of people at Harvard who’ve done worse things than rob a bank to get in.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

A few early laughs scattered around a plot as thin as it is repetitious. There's talent in this picture, both before and behind the camera, but virtually none of it gets on the screen.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

Like Adam Sandler's "Mr. Deeds," this is a hybrid, hipster-cornball movie that wants to celebrate common folk but unapologetically uses words like "trailer trash" to describe them.

Chicago Tribune Mark Caro

Some actors steal scenes. Tom Green just gives them a bad odor. This self-infatuated goofball is far from the only thing wrong with the clumsy comedy.

USA Today Mike Clark

When the most notable thing a film offers is the sight of Dennis Farina in drag, you can't expect much.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Working with a weak script and too lightweight for its freakier moments with Green, the picture never gels. Green's the star, but he really should be in a movie much weirder than this one, a film that can accommodate his humor.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Two idiots embark on a life of crime to help a deserving teenager attend Harvard in this lowbrow but generally sweet-natured comedy.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Stinks even by the standards of late summer movie garbage.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

The question is, how did the producers get the amiable, talented Jason Lee to Boogie Board down the toilet with (Green)?

Entertainment Weekly Bruce Fretts

It doesn't help that most of the jokes (like a rip-off of ''There's Something About Mary'''s dog-in-the-crotch bit) are themselves stolen.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It has no edge, no hunger to be better than it is. It ambles pleasantly through its inanity, like a guest happy to be at a boring party.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

Rarely has paper-casting worked as dismally as it does for Jason Lee and Tom Green.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

What we have is the case of a movie with a straight man (Jason Lee) who really is funny, but with a comic (Tom Green) who sadly isn't.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Here's the best thing about Stealing Harvard: A dog bites Green in the crotch for a really long time. Priceless.

Chicago Reader Bill Stamets

Director Bruce McCulloch, an alumnus of the Canadian TV show "The Kids in the Hall," lacks the sense of scale and timing needed for a feature film, and Lee's voice-over about fate that brackets the narrative only highlights its shapelessness.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

An uncomfortable-looking Lee soldiers doggedly through a thankless role, while Green, though never particularly funny, at least brings off-kilter energy to a role that provides Stealing Harvard's only spark of spontaneity.

Variety Scott Foundas

Depressingly thin and exhaustingly contrived. Only masochistic moviegoers need apply.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

It's so bad that you have to wonder whether Tom Green was looking for a project to match last year's "Freddy Got Fingered" -- Green didn't direct this turkey, but it surely is a contender for the bottom of the barrel award for 2002.

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

With all the wrong Stealing Harvard has done, it at least bestows one gift upon its audience: the gift of forgettableness.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.1 (out of 10) based on 12 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

J B gave it a4:
There really is only one problem with this film: it's not funny. The jokes are lame and predictable, the acting is awful (with one or two exceptions) and the effects are lackluster. Stay away.

Adi gave it a9:
I found this film hilarious, tom green's got a bad reputation through alot of uptight critics, but i think his exentric stupidity is comedy bliss, a must buy, it'l make you cry with laughter.

Jeremy gave it a 9:
Entirely unapreciated and underplayed humor highlight an otherwise average flick. To truely enjoy it, watch with friends and repeat the jokes ad-nauseum for weeks until watching the movie again. Rinse and repeat and you have a cult classic.

Mike D. gave it a 9:
Sure the movie is kinda dumb, but still, it has it's funny parts. tom green may be an idiot but idiots are funny. the dude who plays john is really annoying, and the girl who plays noreen is a bad actor, but i think its funny.

The Curse Of Gilbert Mulroneycakes gave it a 0:
Freddy Got Fingered - a movie very well described on this site as being probably "the worst film possible" - may have been citable under the Geneva Covention, but at least it was memorable, as anyone who saw the twirling-infant thing can testify. This is just listless. Jason Lee is a funny guy. So's John C. McGinley. So is Richard Jenkins, in a Gore Vidal deapan sort of way. Hell, even the director has precedent (he was a Kid in the Hall, don't you know). They all need to exercise more (any) quality control. Tom Green, however: just go away. In the name of GOD, just GO AWAY. PLEASE.

Annick M. gave it a 2:
Tom Green tries way too hard in this movie and is never funny. Megan Mullany and Jason Lee are little more than charming in this film. The movie isn't entirely predictable, instead it's mostly just inane.

Sam B. gave it a 6:
I cant really say this is a great movie. it did have its moments and tom green did deliver somewhat of a performance.

Stealing Harvard Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia Pictures

Stealing Harvard
Sony Pictures Entertainment / Columbia Pictures