For anyone bewailing the decline of Chevy Chase's career, relief is at hand. Under the same National Lampoon banner that produced some of Chase's worst films comes a mediocre campus comedy starring Ryan Reynolds, from TV sitcom Two Guys and a Girl.
On this evidence, Reynolds is shaping up nicely to don the offbeat but not-quite-funny-enough mantle of the star of "Vegas Vacation".
Reynolds plays eternal student Van Wilder, whose seven years at college have turned him into the coolest guy around but one whose ambitions never stretch further than the next luau.
When his father cuts off his allowance in an attempt to get him to graduate, Wilder sets out to earn his fees by doing what he does best - organising parties for his peers.
Meanwhile, student journalist Gwen (Reid, passable in a dull role) is assigned to write an
in-depth profile of a man who seemingly has no profundity at all.
Enthusiastically taking up the current teen movie concern with bodily functions, Walt Becker's film pushes all the demographically appropriate comic buttons.
The tick list includes semen gags (this time with a ballsy dog and a basket of eclairs), sexually frustrated boys, gratuitously naked girls, and an Erik Estrada cameo - while the plot shuffles to its predictable "let's all hug" climax.
Although Reynolds' performance does not suggest a major talent - imagine what a young Jim Carrey could have done with this role - he has enough character to sustain hope of better things and manages to carry a movie that never threatens to raise the unexpected laugh.
"Van Wilder: Party Liaison" opens in UK cinemas on Friday 27th September 2002.
Van Wilder: Party Liaison (2002)
