Accepted
Rated PG-13 for language, sexual material and drug content.
reviewed by Steven Harrell
According to the normal order of the universe, after high school you’re supposed to go to college. If you don’t, you’ll wind up flipping burgers at McDonalds or even worse, writing reviews for pw.com. Just kidding. Anyway, college is viewed as a fail-safe plan to have a happy and successful life. But what happens when you’re rejected even by your safety school?
Story:
Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) is a high school senior with little ambition in life. He applies to several colleges, but due to his sub-par grades and lack of extracurricular activities he is rejected by every one of them. His parents are extremely disappointed in him, and he’s left fumbling anytime the question comes up, “So where are you going next year?”
In a desperate move, Bartleby decides to make up a fake college and send himself an “acceptance” letter. His best friend Schrader (Jonah Hill) creates a web site, making the whole thing seem legit to Bartleby’s overbearing dad. To take the scheme further, the pair (with the help of a few other college rejects) clean up an abandoned building in order to make it look like a real school. However, the whole thing gets out of control when on opening day hundreds of other kids show up because of the website’s claim that anyone can get accepted. To make matters worse, the prestigious school up the road begins asking a few too many questions that push the whole plan to the brink of disaster.
Verdict:
“Accepted” contains a few good moments, but on the whole it lacks the energy or creativity needed to make it a true winner. First time director Steve Pink assembles a somewhat recognizable but little-known cast and delivers a movie that is predictable and worn. The idea of making up a school filled with the rejects from real colleges is a pretty funny one, but there’s nothing in this movie that steps up to actually deliver the potential laughs.
Justin Long (“Waiting,” “Dodgeball”) does an okay job as Bartleby, but the Mac-promoting actor doesn’t give the scene-owning performance necessary to bring a few scenes of “Accepted” out of the reject pile and into major hilarity. In interviews he has been quoted as saying that he tried to “channel” his mentor Vince Vaughan for this role and that attempt is obvious in his quick wit and sarcasm. However, it didn’t all flow together as naturally for Long as it does for the A-list funnyman Vaughan. Long just seems to be trying too hard.
On the plus side, a few scenes manage to get some chuckles, mostly due to Long’s interaction with the rich frat boys from the prestigious college next door. At these times, Long shows potential for being a new fast-talking comedy star with the talent to carry a whole movie. Also, the end scene with the students’ plea for accreditation from the school board is nothing new, but it’s a classic showdown situation that is well done.
One thing that surprised me was the lack of vulgarity. I expected “Accepted” (say that ten times fast) to have a level of sexual content that pushed the boundaries of its PG-13 rating. To be sure, there is some crude and sexual humor and bad language (mostly dealing with the initials of the school), but it avoids spending the whole film dancing on the line between PG-13 and R.
Worldview:
Although “Accepted” is meant as simple escapist fun, it actually contains an idea that is crucial to Christianity. Bartleby and his friends are all rejected from every college they apply to. In order to find a place to be accepted, they create their own college that accepts everyone who applies. On the orientation day, when Bartleby is about to announce to all of the hundreds of future “students” that the whole thing is a sham, he can’t bring himself to disappoint everyone. As a reject himself, he knows the pain of being told, “You’re not good enough.”
His school’s criteria for acceptance is the same as Jesus’. All who apply by trusting in Him are accepted. And that’s it. Jesus doesn’t look at how many Christian CDs you own, your knowledge of Bible trivia, or even your church attendance record. He calls out to each of us by saying “Follow me!” just like he said to Matthew the tax collector (Matthew 9:9) and the other disciples (Mark 1:17). Jesus wants us just as we are, no matter how many times we’ve been rejected by the world, no matter what we’ve done. By grace, we are all accepted through placing our trust in Him to forgive every rejection-worthy choice we’ve every made.
Questions:
• Do you recognize Justin Long from those Mac commercials? How about anything else?
• How do you think “Accepted” compares to other college comedies?
• Is it weird that an actor who was born in 1978 can play a college freshman in 2006 (at the age of 28)?
• What colleges do you plan on applying to? What will you do if none of them work out?
• How do you feel about Christ’s acceptance policy? How good are we as Christians at telling the world about His grace?
