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National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj
Generally unfavorable reviews
Based on 14 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 16 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Comedy
Written by:
David Drew Gallagher
Brent Goldberg (characters)
David Wagner (characters)
Directed by: Mort Nathan
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 1, 2006
DVD: March 27, 2007
Running Time: 95 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: R for pervasive crude sexual content, some nudity and language
Starring Kal Penn, Lauren Cohan, Daniel Percival, Glen Barry, Anthony Cozens, Steven Rathman, Holly Davidson, and Tom Davey
In this sequel to "National Lampoon's Van Wilder," Taj (Penn), Van Wilder's assistant in the first film, heads out on his own and heads to England's prestigious Camden University to further his studies. Along the way, he adopts a group of misfits and shows the uptight student body how to get Wilder! (MGM)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: National Lampoon's Electric Apricot National Lampoon's Van Wilder
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
Boston Globe Rocco B. Colella
The Rise of Taj is relatively pointless in the scheme of things, but refreshing in what it (mostly) doesn't resort to for laughs.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
Everything old is old again in this rickety extension of 2002's already rickety "Van Wilder."
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias
Penn, who probably didn't need this shoddy placeholder after the cult success of "Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle's," acquits himself with a gentle charisma that makes the crudity go down easy. Granted, it's still s---, but with a sweeter odor than usual.
Read Full Review >New York Post Kyle Smith
Ryan Reynolds isn't around this time - and neither is most of the wit.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis
National Lampoon’s Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj harnesses smut and silliness to an oddly innocent tale of true love.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Reece Pendleton
This is shocking only for its tepidness; except for some raunchy language, it's ready-made for basic cable.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jack Mathews
If you liked "Van Wilder," which starred Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid, be warned: The only person returning from the cast is the boring Indian kid Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Kal Penn).
Read Full Review >TV Guide Maitland McDonagh
The laughs are low, the breasts are high, and the film is instantly forgettable.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub
While Kal Penn manages a decent lead performance as Taj, the writing is terrible.
Read Full Review >The Hollywood Reporter Michael Rechtshaffen
So blatantly not funny that it might as well have been called "National Geographic's Van Wilder 2."
Read Full Review >LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson
So why not a sequel that subtracts the only good thing about the first movie, Ryan Reynolds? When Tara Reid won't even come back, you know things can't be good.
Read Full Review >Variety Dennis Harvey
The four-years-in-the-making, badly recycled (not to mention awful) sequel might stain the honor of the Lampoon label if it hadn't already produced several even worse films.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Michael Ordona
To make a movie this charmless and uninspired takes a certain negligence that is rare among even the most cynical Hollywood moneymaking exercises.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Granted, the state of the indie hipster and/or Big-Man-on-the-Quad aesthetic has probably skewed a bit since I was a frosh, but good lord, man, it can't be this pale an imitation of campus life. I implore you: Go rent "National Lampoon's Animal House" and leave this flaccid wanker alone.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 2.8 (out of 10) based on 16 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ryan N. gave it a1:
The heavy use of cliche makes it extrememly insulting to both Indian and British people. After the previous film and Harold and Kumar, I was expecting a movie rather better than this rancid pile of mystery droppings.
Martin S. gave it a2:
The entire movie was a rolling cliche. What is especially insulting is how these low brow American comedies parody asian culture. Please grow up.
Rick S. gave it a1:
Look America is just not ready yet for an indian actor for lead. Now "White Castle" was just a movie they got lucky on, but this is just horrid. For some reason the rest of Hollywood can't see, KAL PENN is just not funny, there's just something about his timing and his expressions. He's trying to be cool and funny at the same time, sort of a drunk guy say this joke is gonna make you laugh before he tells you. I know he went to college for a few years to study acting, but as a lead, you just can't sit through this seeing him over and over. If this had been John Cho, he might have pulled it off. Nerd is not funny, I don't care what movie your in, but this was like "cool nerd" and it just didn't work. My advice is to stay away from this movie.
Samir R gave it a0:
Insulting to the people of India and unfunny in every way.
Erik H gave it a0:
Interesting that the Philadelphia Inquirer gave this a score of 75 after calling it "witless and pointless." That aside, this movie is completely unnecessary. The first film was horrid, and the only notable quality of "Rise of Taj" was that it managed to be even worse than its predecessor. Avoid at all costs!
Patrick gave it a0:
Let me preface what I'm saying with this: I saw this movie for free and was in a great state of mind to watch even a mediocre comedy flick. Having stated that, I'll say this: This is easily the WORST movie I have ever seen. I felt cheated by watching a free sneak preview. The amount of gas used to reach the theatre should have been paid for by whoever the imbecile was that greenlit this atrocity. Do not, under any circumstances, see this movie. Shame on everyone involed in making it.
