Review of Animal House (1978) by Spangle — 20 Dec 2016

Animal House is a classic 1970s college comedy that practically everyone has seen. Detailing the demise of the Delta house on the campus of Faber College through their constant antics, Animal House is a consistently funny, irreverent, and over-the-top comedy. Featuring an ensemble cast, the film relies upon the charisma of its cast, the ludicrous situations they find themselves in, and their propensity to throw impromptu parties at the drop of a hat. While hardly a major cinematic achievement, Animal House is simply easy, breezy fun.

A sexed up drunk film, Animal House's ensemble cast provides the film with serious charisma. In particular, John Belushi obviously steals the show as the stupid John Blutarsky. An alcoholic who only suggests the stupidest ideas, Blutarsky is the life of the party and Belushi provides this spark throughout the film. From the cafeteria to the frat house to the homecoming parade, Blutarsky has a lot of fun and is undoubtedly the dumbest person shown in this film. However, I have one question: How did those sorority girls not see him watching them from outside their window? He literally made eye contact with them all. As for the other characters, Boon (Peter Riegert), Otter (Tim Matheson), and Larry Kroger (Thomas Hulce), are all incredibly lovable and provide great moments of comedy throughout the film. The writing is also very good as they manage to craft memorable characters. They may all look similar and act similar, but the film manages to create distinctions between all of its players, which allows the audience to begin to sympathize with members of the fraternities and the unfortunate women who find themselves in these houses. All of the characters may be pretty one-dimensional, but that is a by-product and showing so many different people. Fortunately, each character has their own energy and contribution to the film with each of their side stories being largely well-developed enough to create empathy and intrigue along the way.

Comedically, Animal House is certainly quite dated. Many of the jokes still land with no problem, however, with the film often overflowing with hilariously over-the-top gags. It may take it too far in the homecoming sequence, but otherwise, its simple, stupid, and irreverent humor works and is incredibly effective in eliciting laughs. Now, of course, a lot of jokes do not land and this is largely a result of the film being 38 years old. What was funny then may not be exactly funny now and, plus, a lot of the plotting is pretty well covered nowadays. Yet, it is quite cliche for back then even with the stereotypically evil and out-of-touch dean who - gasp - does not want dead horses in his office. While that scene is quite funny, it is not hard to imagine why Delta is the thorn in the dean's side, even if you ignore the fact that Otter sleeps with the dean's wife. A classic comedy, Animal House is still incredibly funny and a great time, even if quite dated by now. Without a large ensemble cast that make the antics seem almost wholesome, Animal House never offends, as all of its jokes are simply too dumb to be taken truly seriously. That said, its portrayal of college is still certainly very true, as frats just never change. The film is a bit over-the-top in its portrayal, but at its core - depicting the frat guys as nothing but alcoholic sex addicts - still rings true and I imagine it will forever be the case.