Drôle de campus

This is the first movie I have ever went to that I seriously considered walking out of. I had high expectations from this film. A group of college kids in a dorm by National Lampoon. I'm thinking Animal House and Van Wilder. Turns out it should be in the dog house. The movie is just not funny. The directors tried to throw in some gratuitous nudity to spice up the movie, but all it did was make you have a sense of pity. It was like the only reason to see this movie was the 3 combined seconds of nudity. While the idea behind the movie had potential, I would rather go to the dentist than sit through this again.

"Dorm Daze" is better than I expected. As anybody who has seen "Pledge This" can attest, the name National Lampoon in association with a college-referencing title is no indication of quality. But "Dorm Daze" never stoops to the disturbing gross out "comedy" of that movie, and nor - phew - does it star Paris Hilton.

The movie also only has one scene of nudity, in which an appallingly artificial looking woman bares her rubbery chest-missiles. I think this scene is only available in the "unrated" version, and thus that's a version that should be avoided.

So what does this movie have? It's actually kind of funny, for one. Most jokes don't land, but it was able to raise a smile or a chuckle from me on occasion, which puts it ahead of the majority of comedies. The cast is also above average, and keeps the movie afloat. I didn't care too much about the lightweight plot, which is a farce based entirely on a serious of misunderstandings, such as a prostitute and a foreign exchange student both named Dominique and hence confused with each other, and two gossip mavens who falsely assume one of their fellow students is being beaten by her boyfriend.

Of course these misunderstandings only develop and deepen as the movie goes on, whereas they would otherwise be discovered and dismissed, but the movie continually finds some vein of comic potential. It's not as bad as it could have been, though it feels extremely light weight, with little going on aside from the above.

I watched this on Netflix's online service, initially as a time-killer. I had expected to turn it off after 10 minutes. Thankfully, I didn't.

It turned out to be a fast-paced comedy of errors even more complex than What's Up Doc?. Let's see... There's two gossipy girls who keep getting everything wrong, mis-delivered love letters, a hooker mistaken for an exchange student (and vice-versa), two identical handbags, one of which contains a big wad of cash and a planned armored car robbery.

With all that happening, yeah, it's hard to follow all the plot convolutions, but that's what makes it funny initially and eventually hilarious.

The young cast performs energetically, which is all this kind of movie really requires.

Not highly recommended, but a pleasant way to kill an hour and a half.

I saw this movie a couple of weeks ago and I loved it. Then I went back and saw it again and loved it even more. It is really funny!!! There is so much going on and it goes so fast that you have to see it twice to get everything. What I really like about the story is that the jokes are not just one liners or fart jokes, it was funny because of the story and what happens to the characters. Like, the part of Tony played by Edwin Hodge - he is always in the wrong place at the wrong time and gets blamed and misunderstood. I can relate to that character because that happens to me at home a lot too. I also thought Danielle Fishel and Tatyana Ali were great. It's cool watching them alot on their T.V. shows Boy Meets World and Fresh Prince and then seeing them grown up in Dorm Daze. They are so hot! Patrick Renna and the Sherminator guy are fun to watch as brothers. It's fun seeing the Sherminator have a big part. I also think that James Debello, who played Bert in Cabin Fever, and was really funny in that movie, is really funny in Dorm Daze I can't wait till I graduate this year and go live in a dorm.

I have watched a fair few 'National Lampoon' movies in my time and the one thing that is guaranteed is that there are no guarantees. Some are hilarious, others make you wonder who looked at the script and thought 'let's make this movie.' The plot, such as it is, is far better suited to a sketch show. There are some funny moments, but the whole thing is essentially one long joke. This is why it would be far better on the small screen; stretching a joke for 10 to 20 minutes is hard, 90 minutes is impossible. The performances from the cast, all of whom have very little to actually do, are all OK. But to be fair to them, no one is going to shine with such poor material. See this film if you have nothing to do one afternoon and you can see it for free, as it is mildly entertaining. If you actually buy it on DVD you will be sorely disappointed as it has very little re-watch potential.