For some reason, people like watching movies and reading books about their own life. Not their own in particular, that is, but the life of their own social or professional group – programmers like movies about programmers, teachers like movies about teachers and so on. Sometimes they like them because they get something right, sometimes – because they get everything hilariously wrong. College movies are special in this respect because they are interesting not only for college students, but for the people whose college years are long past – just because it is fascinating to remember this period of your life.
If you don’t know what to watch, here are five movies you may want to start with.
Animal House, 1978
Animal House follows the exploits of a group of happy-go-lucky fraternity members and their struggle against an upright dean of their college who desperately wants to get rid of them and their fraternity. Hilarity, as one can expect, ensues.
Shot for a meager sum of 2.8 million, the movie eventually gathered about $141 million, becoming one of the most successful movies of all time and immediately achieving the status of a living classic. So you may be sure it is really worth watching.
Accepted, 2006
Unpretentious yet still funny movie about a high school graduate who, after being rejected by all possible colleges, uses unconditional approach to the problem by starting a fake college of his own. This fine establishment quickly gathers around itself a number of similar rejects and forms its own curriculum, including a wide range of ridiculous disciplines. Finally, as is expected, the college is accepted as a real one.
Old School, 2003
Three old friends, depressed by their lives, rent a house in the vicinity of a college and, trying to relive their days at college, start a fraternity. To their surprise, this fake fraternity attracts a great amount of other people looking for an outlet for interminable boredom and blandness of their everyday lives. Thus what started as a prank becomes quite real, leading to both funny and sad consequences.
Rudy, 1993
If you are in for something less funny and more serious, pay attention to Rudy. Based on a true story, it tells us the story of Daniel ”Rudy” Ruettiger, whose greatest dream is to attend the University of Notre Dame and play football for its team. Although he faces considerable obstacles, he manages to fulfill his dream. It may be considered to be a pretty usual plot for a sports film, with one correction – it is a very good sports film.
A Beautiful Mind, 2001
Although not a college movie per se, A Beautiful Mind has a rather big section based on college years of the main character, mathematician John Nash, during which he first encounters his mental illness.
In addition to these five titles you may be interested in some other movies on the same topic:
- Revenge of the Nerds.
- Good Will Hunting.
- The Social Network.
- The Rules of Attraction.
