Justin Long stars in the movie that launched his MAC-pimping career. And Jonah Hill co-stars in the movie that gives him a larger part than just shopping in an EBay store. AND, Adam Herschman co-co-stars in a movie that makes you wonder how the hell he hasn’t busted onto the comedy scene yet!

Long stars as Bartleby Gaines, a clumsy high school graduate who got rejected from every college he applied to, including his fallback, Ohio State. Now, in order to appease his over-demanding father, Gaines and his crew (who also suffer their own college acceptance disappointments) must use their wit and seemingly endless stream of money to create their own institution of higher learning.

The movie is, itself, an entertaining movie with some laughs sporadically mixed into the fray. However, with its cast, the film encounters a major pitfall: it doesn’t live up to its full potential!

Lewis Black plays Uncle Ben, a washed-up teacher who stands in as Dean of the fictitious South Harford Institute of Technology. Black, the angry comic, is astronomically more hysterical than his performance within conveys, and this is a common problem throughout the flick.

Secondary characters like Jonah Hill (you may know him as the kid who wanted to buy goldfish shoes in The 40 Year Old Virgin) and Adam Herschman (who seems like he’s only one blunt kick to the head short of becoming brain dead) have their shining moments, but never quite hit their mark. Herschman comes close as his dopey antics are good for a steady chuckle, and Hill’s asides will bring out a giggle or two, but on the whole, the movie falls flat in this department.

Perhaps the trio of writers (Adam Cooper, Bill Collage and Mark Perez) couldn’t agree on some parts and settled on mediocre lines. One thing is for sure: the movie has great casting! But again, the actors aren’t allowed to develop on screen, and this hurts the movie.

As for its plotline, the movie tells an entertaining story. Disregard all the technicalities of where all the money comes from, how kids get away with establishing a school over an old psychiatric hospital and not attract city/state/government attention, how these kids’ parents let them just go off to college, why residents of Ohio don’t question the appearance of this school, etc., and you have a movie worthy of being Old School's redheaded step-child (however low-key it really is!).

So if you have some free time with kids on their way to college, use this as a bonding movie. As corny as it is, the ending actually made me smile.

Finally, the film stays true to its PG-13 rating, bleeping out the one and only curse word in the script (disregarding those in the bloopers/deleted scenes, which are also bleeped out, by the way!).

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