Sure, we've seen it before--college students sharing an apartment and contemplating the meaning of life and education. But this movie was so fresh it overcame any cliches it may have fallen into.
Each University disaster the students ran into (Professor's not showing up to their office hours, the beaurocracy of departments) rang true not just for UniBo (the University of Bologna--where the film was set) students, but for University students around the world!
Each character was unique and appealing--my only complaint would be that there wasn't enough time to get each one of their life stories. The division of the film into "acts", with titles, was reminiscent of "Requiem for a Dream", and the despite the light subject matter, the transition of the characters, and sub-plots within the plot suggests that the filmmakers might be tributing, or at least influenced by, Aronofsky.
