“From the makers of Waiting…” may be the worst marketing hook since “In the tradition of Laurel & Hardy, Abbott & Costello… Danson & Mandel“. It’s like selling Tess on Roman Polanski’s rape charge.
But College has bigger problems than pedigree. For starters, it’s the acting debut of Kevin Covais, the dweeby American Idol contestant who made it into the finals thanks to the highly insincere support of VotefortheWorst.com (good luck succeeding where the much cuter Colleen Haskell failed). Then, there’s the trailer, which exposes the film as a knock-off of a knock-off, i.e. PCU. Though the Hart Bochner-directed (he negotiates million-dollar deals for breakfast) comedy at least had an engaging Jeremy Piven performance and a pretty amusing Starland Vocal Band gag, the idea of a “pre-Frosh” getting repeatedly humiliated during a campus visit was based in no reality I know. Way to steal the least appealing element of a mediocre Animal House retread.
Frankly, watching this trailer makes me nostalgic for Delta House. You’ll be shocked to learn that College is scheduled to open on Labor Day weekend.