21 & Over opens with two young men walking slowly but deliberately across a college campus quad stark naked. Well, not completely naked. The have tube socks for not-so-shallow modesty and are both sporting new brands – as in, they’ve been branded like cattle — on their respective booties. I kind of wished this were a throwaway moment – like this campus is soooooooooo wild we won’t even tell you about what these guys have been through. Turns out this is our story. Ok, Ok, yes I’m disappointed, but I do want to know exactly who these guys pissed off so badly.
Let me stop right here – 21 ampersand Over is a film in which two college-aged idiots, Casey (Skylar Astin) and Miller (Miles Teller) show up to party hard with their other-collegiate today-turned-21 friend-from-high-school, Jeff (Justin Chon). You should know immediately if this is your bag, baby. The “high school” part is kinda important, because as Jeff’s birthday moves along, we learn more and more about exactly how out-of-touch these guys have been in the years since high school.
The removal of twinidiots from JeffChang in both the spiritual and basic knowledge sense works in a few ways: first, it seems like somebody actually wrote this screenplay, as opposed to, say, Project X; more importantly, it sets up the very dumb-witted action in an endearing way. JeffChang blacks out and Casey and Miller feel responsible. Awwwwww. Not responsible enough to do anything logical, of course, –and, let’s be fair, responsible friends would not have taken Jeff bar hopping the night before a morning med school interview in the first place — but every bit of trouble that follows, from the gun battle at the pep rally to the Beerfest-derivative dorm gauntlet, ensues from these guys needing to get their friend home.
Doncha love how the screenplay tries to exonerate itself from responsibility by making Casey the straight-laced voice of reason? Yeah, I see him there battling devil’s advocate Miller over crew neck sweaters, curfews and summer plans. I also see him arguing over who 
is gonna do who’s sister, playing full part in a sorority break-in and dropping JeffChang out a window, twice. And how could Mr. Price-Waterhouse-internship-over-Spring-Break not know the difference between Greek letters theta and phi? Did this never come up at Stanford?
The direction is puerile: We get several good shots of the boys bare asses, but boobies are about as clear as photographic proof of bigfoot – as if a direct lucid sustained shot of female bosom would cause the camera to break or something. Then there are the boys calling out, “JeffChang” throughout the film as if it’s one big name. We saw this in One for the Money – that’s not how you address people you know. If you were best friends with a guy named “Jeff Chang” for four years, I guarantee you don’t call him, “JeffChang.” In fact, that’s probably the only thing you don’t call him.
You have to know when you see a film like 21 grammatical symbol meaning “in addition” Over that there are several scenes with a young man taking the town wearing *just* a pink bra and teddy bear glued to his JeffChang. That being said – there are many, many ways to make the “party-hard-live-forever” formula suck theta and this wasn’t one.
Medschool interview
Dad’s Mr. Tough Screw
Forbids our tomfoo
Get JeffChang home!
Sorority chicks
Bad fights we picks
We’s in a fix
Get JeffChang home!
Clothing not around
Buddy can’t be found
Buffalo loosed aground
Get JeffChang home!
Rated R, 93 Minutes
D: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
W: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Genre: Animal House
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: People not allowed to see it.
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: The hijinks impaired
