The 1978 cult classic "Animal House" began as a series of stories published in the satirical magazine "National Lampoon." With the backing of future "Ghostbusters" director Ivan Reitman, "National Lampoon" writers Harald Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller wrote a screenplay based on several connected stories written by Miller for the magazine. The resulting film was a box-office smash and a major influence on the comedy genre. Without the success of "Animal House," Ramis never would've gotten the industry clout to make classics like "Ghostbusters," "Groundhog Day" or "Caddyshack." Director John Landis never would've become one of the most prolific comedy directors of the 1980s. If it weren't for this one movie, films like "Police Academy," "Porky's" and "M*A*S*H*" wouldn't even exist. For better or worse, this film changed the comedy landscape for the next decade and continues to have a dedicated following to this day. The question, however, is whether or not the film still holds relevance for those my own age. College culture has changed a lot in the last 40 years and varies wildly across the country. Can "Animal House" speak to a generation twice removed from its original audience?
The film takes place on an unspecified college campus in 1962, focusing on the rowdy Delta fraternity as they try to have fun while avoiding being kicked out of school by the stiff-necked dean.
The best aspect of the film is the cast. Every actor does a phenomenal job in their role, whether the character be awkward, confident or outright crazy. While John Belushi's iconic performance as Bluto is an obvious standout, the rest of the cast are equally good in their more subdued roles.
The amount of times you'll laugh will entirely depend on your taste in comedy. The film's humor is steeped in the "Ghostbusters" and "Space Balls" school of comedy. There's site-gags, some gross-out humor and most of the jokes rely less on clever wordplay and more on the funny personalities of the characters. If that's your thing, then you'll likely get a big kick out of most of the jokes. However, if your tastes lie more with stuff like "Cheers" or "Everybody Loves Raymond," you'll find a few good laughs, but will mostly be sitting through a lot of stuff that isn't unpleasant, but also isn't very funny.
While there's nothing objectively wrong with the film, some of the political jabs could be considered a bit unnecessary. The writers take several shots at popular targets of the 1960s such as Richard Nixon, the Vietnam War and the lack of civil rights for racial minorities. While these could be considered period appropriate since the story takes place in 1962, the film itself was released in 1978. By then, the Vietnam War was over and despised, Nixon was out of office and Martin Luther King's civil rights movement had advanced the rights of black Americans. If so many societal problems had been overcome, then why continue taking shots at them when they're no longer relevant? Or perhaps they were still relevant and I just don't have the full context.
Since the writers based the story off their own college experiences, we can say that the frat culture presented in the film is at least somewhat accurate, if exaggerated. Now, it's difficult to tell whether or not the frat culture presented in "Animal House" has been preserved or changed in the years since the film came out. While there still seems to be an excess of drinking within fraternities and hazing still exists, that's about all we can say for sure. How members of fraternities act varies from college to college and the only blanket statements we have about frat culture are from movies and TV shows. In the end, there's no way of making a statement about frat culture unless you yourself have lived in a frat before.
"Animal House" is one of those movies where the phrase "Your mileage may vary" heavily applies. Depending on your comedic tastes and tolerance for the exaltation of unruly behavior, the film is either a comedy masterpiece or just kind of okay. Take a look and see for yourself.
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