Stealing Harvard

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COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Wingdings 2" ><B>ê</B></FONT><B>1/2 PG-13</B></div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="575"><div> Reviewed By David Spielman</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="549" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 23 WIDTH="545"><div> Definitely not Harvard educated</div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="580" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> John Plummer: Jason Lee</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> David Loach: Chris Penn</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Duff: Tom Green</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP><NOBR><div> Detective Charles: John C. McGinley</div> </NOBR></tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Mr. Warner: Dennis Farina</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><div> Elaine: Leslie Mann</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="269"><div> Patty: Megan Mullally</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="304"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="304" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> <B>30 Second Bottom Line</B>: John is an employee at his future father-in-law's company. When his fiancée Elaine uses the thirty thousand dollars in their saving account to buy a new home, John is in deep trouble. He promised his niece that he would pay her $30,000 college tuition. Now he must break the law in order to get the money he needs to fulfill his promise.</div> <bR> <div> <B>Story Line:</B> Homespital is a sort of medical Wal-Mart, owned by Mr. Warner (Dennis Farina), Elaine's dad. Mr. Warner hates John (Jason Lee), of course, because John is in love with his daughter and he works in the store. When John discovers that Elaine (Leslie Mann) has taken the thirty thousand dollars in their joint savings account and bought a new home with it he must come up with a plan - immediately.</div> <bR> <div> Years earlier, he promised his niece that he would pay for her college tuition. He didn't think she was going to even get into college, nevertheless Harvard, because she couldn't spell T-A-R-P at the fifth grade spelling bee. Now he is thirty thousand dollars in debt and is afraid to ask his future father-in-law for the money. He therefore goes to his dumb, loner friend Duff (Tom Green) and asks for his help. Duff's solution is that they should rob a rich person whom he landscaped for the same day. John agrees and from here their lives spiral downward. </div> <bR> <div> <B>Tell Me More About It</B>: <I>Stealing Harvard</I> isn't necessarily a horrible movie as much as a tired movie. I admit I chuckled a few times throughout, but the plot is so dumb and irrelevant that I had trouble staying awake at times throughout the film. The cast for this film is great though, and with that, I have seen a new pattern formulating in Hollywood. Good actors like to do bad comedies. I don't know why this is becoming a new trend, but it is. A few weeks ago I reviewed <I>The Adventures of Pluto Nash</I>, a far worse movie than this, but a top notch cast for one of the worst movies I have ever seen. </div> <bR> <div> Now let's talk about the cast. Jason Lee is one of my favorite young actors right now. I think he has the potential to become one of the biggest stars in Hollywood. The past several years he has been in my favorite films of each year. Last year he starred in <I>Vanilla Sky,</I> as Tom Cruise's best friend. He was fantastic in the role. The year before he was in <I>Almost Famous</I>, another Cameron Crowe directed film that took me a while to realize just how special the film was. He was great as the lead singer of Stillwater, the band that the young journalist follows around. With that said, what in the world was Jason Lee thinking when he signed on for this movie? If you're a fan of Lee's, you might still want to see this film, just to see Jason Lee. </div> <bR> <div> Then there's Dennis Farina. Dennis Farina is another one of my favorites. His small role in last year's <I>Sidewalks of New York</I> was one of the funniest in recent years. What was he thinking when he signed on for this comedy…with this script? The answer I don't know, but I don't plan on finding out either.</div> <bR> <div> Of course, there's also Tom Green. I like Tom Green and think he is a talented comedian. He was hilarious on his show on MTV and in the college comedy <I>Road Trip</I>. He has a few funny parts in this film, but he just wasn't as good as he should've been. </div> <bR> <div> The main problems with this film are the writing and the stupid plot. Had the plot been elevated to a wittier level, this could have been successful. Yet, with jokes like a dog humping Tom Green's legs and a toothbrush used to clean out parts of the human digestive system, and an ending so silly, you don't know whether to laugh or walk out of the theater. It is as if this film was destined to head nowhere from the beginning. If you like the cast, don't see this in the theater <FONT SIZE="3" COLOR="#FFCC66" FACE="Symbol" >-</FONT> wait for home video. If you, on the other hand, don't like the cast, don't bother at all. Paying full price for this movie isn't <I>Stealing Harvard</I>, but it is `'stealing money."</div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="591" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> Rating PG-13 (sex; violence; language)</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> David Spielman © 2002</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="587"><div> <A HREF="mailto:djdave14@aol.com" TARGET="_top" TITLE="mailto:djdave14@aol.com"><U><U>David@reelmoviecritic.com</U></U></A></div> </tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <div> Mini Filmography </div> <bR> <div> <TABLE BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="1" CELLSPACING="1" WIDTH="579" BORDERCOLORLIGHT="#C0C0C0" BORDERCOLORDARK="#808080" FRAME="BOX" RULES="ALL" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0" > <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Jason Lee: Vanilla Sky</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Chris Penn: Rush Hour</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Tom Green: Road Trip</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> John C. McGinley: Platoon </div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Dennis Farina: Snatch</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><div> Leslie Mann: Big Daddy</div> </tD> </tR> <tR> <tD VALIGN=TOP HEIGHT= 19 WIDTH="286"><div> Megan Mullaly: Will & Grace</div> </tD> <tD VALIGN=TOP WIDTH="286"><IMG BORDER="0" SRC="1x1.gif" HEIGHT="19" ALIGN="bottom" WIDTH="286" HSPACE="0" VSPACE="0"></tD> </tR> </TABLE></div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>