Chris Minitelli
Staff Writer
The story of coming of age and growing up is one that we can all relate to. The recent movie, “21 & Over,” addresses this topic in an outrageous and crazy manner.
This movie follows two friends who visit another friend at college in order to celebrate his 21st birthday. Although his birthday is also the night before an important job interview, the three longtime friends decide to go out and celebrate anyway. Ultimately, the night turns into a mad dash to get back home before the interview.
This movie seemed like a mix of “American Pie” and “The Hangover,” with similar humor and ridiculous situations. Throughout “21 & Over,” the characters face a multitude of outrageous circumstances, including vengeful sororities, angry male cheerleaders, breaking out of health services and jumping out of windows.
While “21 & Over” definitely tries to include a ton of slapstick and outlandish comedy, its attempts did not always translate very well. I thought that this movie certainly had its funny moments.
However, most of the time it failed to be all that funny. For the most part, I felt that this movie had more of an awkward and random feel rather than a comedic one.
The cast of “21 & Over” includes Miles Teller, Skylar Austin, Justin Chon and Sarah Wright. While the cast was average, each of the characters that these actors portrayed were pretty predictable and unoriginal as well.
Although “21 & Over” was presented as a slapstick college comedy, it also tried to deal with a number of pretty serious issues.
Throughout the film the characters deal with things such as extreme parental pressures, dropping out of college, coming of age, growing apart and losing friendships.
Ultimately, “21 & Over” is a decent film that might be worth checking out if you are looking to watch a simple and mildly funny movie. It may try to deal with some serious issues and take a serious tone at certain points, but it ultimately keeps a comedic and light tone as the characters’ crazy nightlong adventures progress.
