Stealing Harvard (2002)

Sometimes it takes a piece of raw brilliance, other times sheer agony to entice a lad out of retirement. "Stealing Harvard" provided enough motivation for this lad to return to IMDb.

It's just not fair that people should be allowed to pay to see a movie like this. Surely a new breed of censors must be introduced. Censors who can asterisk a movie that will almost be a certainty to disappoint. This way the innocent public can steer clear of trash like this and other such films like "What Dreams May Come". There was no enjoyment to be found from this movie. Just a stinging pain to the heart, reminding you of the ugly experience and lighter wallet you now possess.

I will say one thing. I saw this movie in a full house, and I heard only two people laugh through the movie. Two in about one hundred. Long, long odds.

Fmovies: Stealing Harvard is such a feel good movie. I can't believe that this film hasn't got the recognition it deserves.

First off, I would like to comment on the amazing acting. Tom Green as "Duff" is absolutely fabulous. He completely sucks you in to the movie, and delivers a hilarious performance. For a normal man to play such a role shows how great of an acting performance that was.

While Jason Lee also did a great job as John Plummer, I have to give the real prize to John C. McGinley as Detective Charles. One minute he is calm like John Plummer, and the next minute he is crazy like Duff! He was incredible to watch, and delivered an astronomical performance, which is sadly very overlooked.

Overall, Stealing Harvard was just an amazing film. I love it, and watch it very often. Anyone who doesn't like this movie obviously couldn't recognize how great it really was.

Why else do you go to see a movie with Jason Lee, Tom Green, Megan Mullally and Dennis Farina, directed by Bruce McCullugh from 'the Kids in the hall'? If everything fails otherwise, just to have a good time I would think. John and Elaine, a couple who's communication skills go awry one day, due to a promise that a particularly flip-headed uncle John makes to his niece Noreen, that Patty, (Mullally) had been video taping, some years before. Whoops, everything seems to come apart, for the somewhat happy young couple due to that fact. A over zealous father in law (Farina) who wants to put Jason Lee's character in his place, because his daughter is his 'Princess' (of course). A motivated and angry cop, with good dental hygiene habits, who is all over them like 'stink on a monkey'!!!

Maybe they can put things right again, with the help of his old high-school buddy Walter Duffy or 'Duff' what could possibly go wrong?????? They,(all three) team up, as a serious 'Heavy' crew, looking to take down a good score. So that they can send the nice niece to college.

Ha, this whimsically funny film had a wonderful, cast of kooks and meat-heads just to keep it on the edge. I think that if you have a funny bone, you should go and get this one. (***)

Stealing Harvard fmovies. It doesn't matter if it is Tom Green or Jason Lee making the joke in this movie, chances are it will be funny. This is another film where Jason Lee gets himself into a mess and has to lie to get out of it. The good thing about this film is that Tom Green does not use as much gross humour as he did in Freddy Got Fingered. I had a good laugh at both of them. I give this movie 10 out of 10.

If it had not been for the exceedingly unfunny sight gags and basic writing style, I'd immediately fault Bruce McCulloch's Stealing Harvard for being an assembly of charmless stupidity and its use of bland, undeveloped characters. Consistent readers know I've subjected myself to stupid comedies and have emerged from some of them with a good review in hand. Such films would be Bio-Dome, Encino Man, and more recently, 2010's remake of Death at a Funeral.

However, there are requirements that I have in my head to be able to call a stupid movie a good one. For starters, a setup that's at least mildly intriguing. Second, one liners that are somewhat memorable. Finally, something that can differentiate it from a stupid movie in the crowd. Stealing Harvard only succeeds in having a somewhat interesting premise and one funny sequence, which involves shouting, repetition, and randomness - thinks I am known to have a disdain for.

Our story begins with John (Jason Lee), a man who is this close to marrying his fiancée and buying a home. His plans get halted when his niece (Tammy Blanchard), who he has become increasingly close to due to her lack of a father figure, reveals that she has been accepted to Harvard, and pulls out a tape of her when she was little, after she failed a spelling bee. On the tape, her uncle John promises her that he will pay for her to go to school when the time comes, and, in present time, she tells them there is only one small chunk left to pay - a $29,000 chunk.

Try to digest that plot point while I bring out another. John's best bud is "Duff" (Tom Green), a clueless, lazy dork who runs a third-rate landscaping business. He reveals to John that while clean and landscaping some rich stiff's home, that he has an open safe with a boatload of money that is simply collecting dust. The two half-wits decide to break in to the home and take the money, but when that idea fails, they concoct more, one of which is robbing a liquor store yuet becoming more preoccupied with who has what fake name rather than the actual operation.

Jason Lee, an actor who we saw was completely capable of creating a character in Chasing Amy and Mallrats functions with sitcom shallowness here, and Tom Green, an actor whose wide range of performances hasn't allowed him to adopt much likability, is a text book idiotic Neanderthal here.

And don't even get me started on the barrage of lackluster plot points and details the film includes, either. There's a little thing in comedies I call "too much information," where a running joke or setup is attempted to be created out of something rather disheartening or simply not funny. Certain "too much information" gags here are the details and the sequences showing John's fiancée (Leslie Mann) crying during sex and her oppressive relationship with her overprotective father. Such things do not belong in a comedy.

Stealing Harvard greatly reminds me of a smarter, infinitely more nuanced comedy called Orange County, that came out the same year as this one in 2002. The film centered around Colin Hanks' character who desperately tries to get accepted to a college, but he finds that his dysfunctional family and chaotic mishaps are burdening roadblocks to this dream. Hanks' character had a screw-up brother, played by Jack Black, who acted much like Tom Green in this film. Hanks' character also reminded me of the niece character here, played by Tammy Blanchard, as someone clearly ambiti

Okay, okay. Bad premise, bad script. Otherwise, this is a good film played for laughs. Jason Lee, Tom Green and Megan Mullally are all on fine form, playing the characters we have come to expect from them.

In particular, Jason Lee is his typical self here, playing the slightly angry yet humorous good guy. For some, Tom Green may be too wacky, but his character, Duff, is like a toned-down version of himself, so it will surely prove bearable for his naysayers.

Some really good comedy moments and a few nice set pieces are enough to make up for an otherwise silly and clichéd film. Definitely worth a watch, I found it really enjoyable in a switched-off-brain sort of way.