1/5 One hour and forty minutes of my life I'll never get back.
  by G. Bennett (Phoenix, AZ)
For those of us who were in college when the first Van Wilder came out, it's safe to say we've probably seen it a dozen times or more. Ryan Reynolds, Kal Penn, and Tara Reid made that movie a college cult classic. In my fraternity house it was Animal House, Road Trip, and Van Wilder. The second installment (The Rise of Taj) wasn't quite up to par with the original, but it was respectable in its own way, especially since Kall Penn came back. Van Wilder: Freshman Year doesn't deserve to share the same title. Jonathan Bennett obviously studied the mannerisms of Ryan Reynolds, but ended up delivering a poor immitation of Van not worthy of appearing on amateur night at a dive comedy club. He doesn't come close to portraying the original Van Wilder character. Kristin Cavallari (while smokin' hot) is far from convincing in what her character was supposed to be. The highlight of the movie for me was to see that they brought back the original bull dog, who ended up having more laughs than any of the human characters. Jerry Shea, as the funny foreign student, has a few mildly funny moments, but is a far cry from the original foreigner we all know as Taj. The only reason this movie would be of any interest to anybody is that it provides a regular shot of topless girls every twenty minutes or so just to hold the audience's attention. Those reviewers giving it a good rating are can't possibly be any more than juvenile teens just happy to see a quick flash of boobs on screen that they can slow down and watch frame by frame. If you're a fan of the first one (or two), and absolutely MUST see the third installment, please don't waste your money buying it -- rent it or get it on demand. Otherwise, you're going to feel severely ripped off.

5/5 van wilder, good
  by Cluster Lizzy (Chatham, NY)
I thought this movie was pretty good and also funny as the first. For those who liked the first Van Wilder, you'll like this one too.

2/5 The Franchise is Dead - Bury It
  by Daniel G. Lebryk
Van Wilder Freshman Year, wow what a major waste of film, studio time, and some pretty women.

National Lampoon's Van Wilder - Unrated (Two-Disc Special Edition), Ryan Reynolds, and Kal Penn - great chemistry, funny men together. Kal acted like he was Ryan Reynolds' straightman, but it may have been the other way around. The film was a bit dragged down with Tara Reid, but otherwise, funny movie. The second one, Van Wilder - The Rise of Taj, lost Ryan Reynolds, but we got to keep Kal Penn. Funny man on his own, fairly fresh off of Harold and Kumar. Rise of Taj, not a bad movie, not as funny as number one, but OK.

And then we get this movie, Freshman Year. Ouch. Both stars are gone. At first it seems like the Asian guy will take the place of Kal Penn as Van Wilder's gopher. But nope, after a while it becomes clear, the new Van Wilder, Johathan Bennet, will carry all the jokes. Ouch, he's not funny. Although those eyebrows were kind of extra thick, he had a shot at doing some Groucho imitations.

This movie has followed the American Pie path - number one was excellent. Number two was OK. Number three the wedding, was less good. And finally number four was just downright awful, not a single original star was there. At least American Pie tried to flow with the original story, the fourth one was Stifler's younger brother. Van Wilder: Freshman Year, just made no sense at all.

Why in the world did I rate this movie two stars? Well, the women they found for this movie were very pretty. There was a level of jiggle in this film that was actually a lot better than either of the first two editions. So, for the most base reasons, it gets an extra star.

The DVD is chock full 'o bonus features. None of which are really worth watching. There's a bonus film called Decatur that is supposed to be like the Hills. Its just plain boring (well I guess, its just like the Hills, boring). Pretty sure Decatur is named for a suburb of Atlanta (Freshman Year was supposed to be in Georgia). There's isn't really any more nudity in the bonus features. There's a piece about the dog, everyone complaining about how he got better treatment than the people. All total, there is about 10 or so bonus features.

One other reason for the slightly higher rating - the soundtrack is actually pretty decent. The movie opens with the Offspring, You're Gonna Go Far Kid. I Ran performed by Bowling For Soup. And Something Corporate by Cavanaugh Park. Three decent songs.

The movie is actually very long, one hour thirty eight minutes theatrical release, unrated is one hour forty minutes. So there's two minutes of something extra. Honestly, it's not likely to be more nudity. Its probably a set of cruder jokes they didn't want to send to the MPAA for fear of an NC-17. It could also be one of the simulated sex scenes where the guy fakes completing the act. None of which are worth getting excited about. The movie is well over 20 minutes too long as it stands.

Yeah, not a really good movie. The jokes are bad. The girls are pretty.

5/5 Extremely Hilarious
  by H. Asaad
Really one of the best Van Wilder movies,its well made,and as good as American Pie movies.

1/5 Do Not Bother
  by Keith Sailers (Lawrenceville, Georgia United States)
I enjoyed the first and second ( Rise Of Taj) Van Wilder movies . They are in my collection. I bought this one thinking it would fall somewhere in between. I purchased the unrated version thinking the Babes would carry the movie if the acting was weak. . WRONG! Ryan Reynolds IS "Van Wilder" , Jonathan Bennett is not even close. When the actor playing his prequel father is more beliveable thats bad . If they had made this movie with a diffrent title it might have been watchable fare, hot babes & college pranks. . This Van Wilder movie is more like what you expect after the seventh sequel not the third. Save your brain cells, time and money .Go watch the first two and leave this on the shelves untill they take it back to the studio.