Animal House

Name: Animal House
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Released: July 28, 1978
Duration: 109 min
Rating: 79
Cast: John Belushi, Karen Allen

1978

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 80 Ratings

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7.7

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7.7	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 80 Ratings

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National Lampoon's Animal House (Trailer 1)

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Movie Details & Credits

Universal Pictures | Release Date: July 28, 1978 | R

Starring: John Belushi, Karen Allen

Summary: In 1962, the dean of Faber College plans to rid his campus of the delinquent Delta House fraternity.

Director: John Landis

Genre(s): Comedy, Romance

Rating: R

Runtime: 109 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Roger Ebert

The movie is vulgar, raunchy, ribald, and occasionally scatological. It is also the funniest comedy since Mel Brooks made "The Producers." Read full review

An unashamed sense of its own fantasy is coupled with classically mounted slapstick; nostalgia mixes with cynicism in seductive proportions; and John Belushi's central performance as brain-damaged slob-cum-Thief of Baghdad is wonderful. Read full review

Robert Martin

Animal House is the sort of film you hate yourself for laughing at. It is so gross and tasteless you feel you should be disgusted but it's hard to be offended by something that is so sidesplittingly funny. [05 Aug 1978]

Gary Arnold

Belushi also controls a wicked array of conspiratorial expressions with the audience. His smoldering pouts, crazed gleams, elevating eyebrows and erotically-contended smiles generate gleeful rabble-rousing excitement. And he can seem irresistibly funny in repose or invest minor slapstick opportunities with a streak of genius. Read full review

Colin Kennedy

From Elmer Bernstein's sweeping dramatic strings - perhaps the first counterpoint score in comedy - to the gleeful mixture of low-brow and lower-brow gags, Animal House is arguably the most influential comedy of our time. Read full review

R.L. Shaffer

Much of the film's success is thanks to the delightfully enigmatic cast, and a sharp script that allows for the perfect balance of story and irreverent silliness. There's not a weak link in this cast. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

A period piece, still reasonably funny. Read full review

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User Reviews

CharlieS.

Feb 15, 2008

This is the funniest movie EVER, period.

0 of 0 users found this helpful

CritiqueGirl

Mar 4, 2011

I saw this when it first came out. FUNNY and now a classic. John Belushi at his very best. The entire cast was funny.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

cameronmorewood

Nov 8, 2012

The cafeteria scene is perhaps the funniest sequence to ever be caught on film.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

bram29

Oct 16, 2011

this movie is mad fun. it's also very self-aware. it doesn't want to be deep. it's a crazy spectacle and i wouldn't want it any other way.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

TheMovieCritic

Aug 7, 2012

A funny movie this is. The acting is also pretty good, and a lot of the scenes are well directed, including the ones that aren't even funny. Though not as funny as I expected, it is still a good movie.

2 of 3 users found this helpful21

Compi24

Nov 28, 2012

Directed by John Landis, "Animal House" was one of the first comedies to break all of the rules of film. Meaning it featured an immoral premise, a heap of foul language, and almost gratuitous nudity. However, "Animal House" was a riot for me and it still maintains the title as one theDirected by John Landis, "Animal House" was one of the first comedies to break all of the rules of film. Meaning it featured an immoral premise, a heap of foul language, and almost gratuitous nudity. However, "Animal House" was a riot for me and it still maintains the title as one the comedies that defined a decade. John Belushi. . .that is all. Every scene involving John Belushi made me laugh hysterically, and other actors, including Tim Matheson, Stephen Furst, Tom Hulce, and Bruce McGill made this movie that much more enjoyable. This movie is an endless tornado of chaotic buffoonery - and it's awesome.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

amheretojudge

May 15, 2019

Beluschi drives the whole house in a burning jungle and he is the only one that comes out alive.

Animal House Landis is just looking for the right angle that would somehow make it all tenable and sane to look at. And for the most part of it, he succeeds. What's debilitating is the scriptBeluschi drives the whole house in a burning jungle and he is the only one that comes out alive.

Animal House

Landis is just looking for the right angle that would somehow make it all tenable and sane to look at. And for the most part of it, he succeeds. What's debilitating is the script that dries up on its own sunny rides. Gags after gags, scoot over there is another gag on the house, with so many laughs- and yes there are- the rhythm of the film is uncanny. And maybe we are to blame the director John Landis, whose failed attempts of parallel narration doesn't capture the film in one frame.

There is a lot of editing, in the sense that it moves back and forth a lot, just for the sake of the joke and maybe I'd chug it all up if the joke was any better to take a detour of this long and stressful build up. Donald Sutherland as an eccentric teacher that obviously no one respects has some of the best moments. Personally, I loved all the scenarios regarding the classroom, from the fake court trial to a poorly ordered instructions. Then, there is obviously a party sequence, like all these teenage movie does, something that no one actually gets it right and end up just shooting jokes in the dark and drunk.

The jokes are not politically correct, they may not be accepted well with the time, but the quality, the lunacy is very much energetic. And among each characteristic handed over to various people, John Belushi triumphs over all the insane ingredients sprinkled in this overstuffed and overcooked dish. From grabbing lunch blindingly to heckling in the class, there is no one as confident as him while performing a physical comedy. He mocks and body shames himself, for the laughs, that very notion has a poetic sense in his enactment of animal like instincts residing in an Animal House.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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