I don’t know why I still watched this Van Wilder prequel after the disastrous Rise of Taj. Van Wilder: Freshman Year has Jonathan Bennett playing the lead role but right from the start you’ll know that he’s no Ryan Reynolds.
Just like what the title suggests, Freshman Year shows us how Van started his long academic career in Coolidge College. Things have changed since his father graduated from Coolidge when it used to be the number one party college. But now its student body is sexually oppressed and partying is taboo in the campus.
Freshman Year is worth a couple laughs but it is nothing compared to the first Van Wilder movie, although it is definitely a lot better than Rise of Taj. The movie has a similar plot to the Police Academy movies wherein the couple of misfits are trying to fit into the system. Wilder is the fresh Mahoney and Dean Reardon is Captain Harris.
One saving grace of the Freshman Year is Van Wilder’s love interest that’s played by Kristin Cavallari. I’ve never seen her before but I do think that she’s hotter than Tara Reid, who was in the first Van Wilder movie.
Are we going to see a sophomore year in the near future? Hopefully that movie would be wilder than The Freshman Year. And I do hope that Kristin Cavallari would still be in that one. Anyway, if you’re a fan of the first Van Wilder movie, then the Freshman Year might disappoint you. It’s not even worth the rental.
