Review of The Freshman (1925) by Warren M — 15 Feb 2012

64% (Rounded Down to 60).

The Freshman is fairly mediocre as a comedy, most of the jokes feel dated and fall flat. But even as a romance film, or just as a film on it's own, The Freshman still falters. A good majority of the film goes by mostly routinely. The story isn't necessarily boring, it's actually quite entertaining and interesting. But the very structure of the theme of the film just falls apart at the end. The journey to the end is fun, exciting, and it's hard not to fall in love with the adorable Harold Lloyd. But by the time the credits roll, you feel like you've almost been cheated. It's as if the film takes back everything it had just told you and (even though it was a pretty fun ride) it feels like everything just gets sucked back out. It's a fatal flaw that practically ruins the experience. If the film was at least funny, you wouldn't care so much but, I did not find the film to be laugh-out-loud knee-slappingly funny. It had me smiling most of the time, but the best it ever gave me was a couple of chuckles. It's disappointing. But the entire experience is still rather enjoyable. The story is amusing, and Harold Lloyd is a delight, but by the end, the theme totally turns itself on it's back, and in turn, you feel like turning your back on the film as well. So in other words, The Freshman is a fairly unfunny yet somewhat enjoyable film that others may enjoy more, and despite having an amusing story and a lovable lead character, it suffers from a muddled script and a emotionally confounding ending. Others who enjoy Harold's brand of comedy will still like this, but as I don't, I didn't really enjoy it as much.