National Lampoon's Animal House
109 minutes,
USA (1978), 15
Average user rating 
(4.8 / 71 votes)
(4.8 / 71 votes)
The godfather of gross-out comedy. A campus-based story of slobs taking on the snobs featuring beer, nudity, beer, drugs, beer and John Belushi
Director:
National Lampoon's Animal House Review
The godfather of gross-out comedy. A campus-based story of slobs taking on the snobs featuring beer, nudity, beer, drugs, beer and John Belushi
It's a testament to Animal House's unique energy and no-holds-barred craziness that even though it has been plundered mercilessly by the sub-genre of films it created (from Porky's to American Pie) it is still fresh and very funny - and not just because John Belushi gives the performance of his brief lifetime.
The action takes place in 1962 on an unspecified campus where two fraternities, the preppy Omegas, and the Deltas are at war. The Omegas are spoilt, "Hitler youth"-style bullies - the embodiment of all WASP cliches, from the horse-mad sadist Neidermeyer (Metcalf) to the smarmy Chip Diller (Kevin Bacon, impressively nasty in his film debut). Their enemies, the Deltas, are loveable rogues, hard-drinking reprobates determined to amount to nothing other than more drunk. Director Landis coaxes some memorably over-the-top performances from this group (mainly made up of first timers), and there are sophisticated turns from Tim Matheson as the womanising Otter, and James Widdoes as the fast-quipping Robert Hoover.
However, the undoubted star is John Belushi, who appears infrequently on screen, but does so each time with such manic intensity that he steals the entire film - despite the presence of Donald Sutherland as a pot-smoking, student-bonking, Milton-hating English professor.
The action takes place in 1962 on an unspecified campus where two fraternities, the preppy Omegas, and the Deltas are at war. The Omegas are spoilt, "Hitler youth"-style bullies - the embodiment of all WASP cliches, from the horse-mad sadist Neidermeyer (Metcalf) to the smarmy Chip Diller (Kevin Bacon, impressively nasty in his film debut). Their enemies, the Deltas, are loveable rogues, hard-drinking reprobates determined to amount to nothing other than more drunk. Director Landis coaxes some memorably over-the-top performances from this group (mainly made up of first timers), and there are sophisticated turns from Tim Matheson as the womanising Otter, and James Widdoes as the fast-quipping Robert Hoover.
However, the undoubted star is John Belushi, who appears infrequently on screen, but does so each time with such manic intensity that he steals the entire film - despite the presence of Donald Sutherland as a pot-smoking, student-bonking, Milton-hating English professor.
"Obscene, absurd and hilarious"
Continue reading
Agree or differ with this review? Write your reviews
