Accepted (2006)

Considering that I currently use a PC, rather than a Mac, I find myself quite impressed with how convincing an actor Justin Long can be. Accepted is the story of a high school senior who unwittingly establishes his own eccentric college after discovering that he did not get accepted to any of the schools that he applied to. This movie is really funny and is good from start to finish. The young, and at the time, mostly unknown cast is excellent. Justin Long is superb when it comes to delivering his dry, sharp wit, and does a great job portraying a teenager trying to figure out where he fits into conventional society. So far, I have not seen a film in which I felt that Long did a poor job; I would expect to continue to see him getting good roles if he does not get bogged down in that ridiculous Apple campaign. I am not sure if Accepted was released before 40 Year Old Virgin, but one way or another, this was Jonah Hill, the star of Superbad's first big role. He is hilarious as the sad-sack best friend who actually got into a good school, and delivers some classic one-liners with such perfect timing that it is no surprise that he has risen to comedy stardom. There is one recognizable, older face that very nearly steals the spotlight of this movie. Lewis Black plays the man hired to be the schools dean. He pretty much plays himself, going off on random angry tangents that alone make this deeper-than-expected movie worth watching. The plot of this movie seems a little silly, but the film does make some interesting commentaries on this countries higher education system, and tries to offer some creative insights into the types of citizens that it produces. Accepted does sample more than a little from classic films like Animal House and PCU, but that in no way diminishes how funny this movie is. I really liked this Accepted, and have actually seen it twice now. The second time was on Comedy Central, which was still good, but it bleeps out about half of what Lewis Black says, so if you can, watch it unfettered. My wife likes this film a lot, and was happy to watch it again. I give Accepted 3 and a half stars.