Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj (2006)

I see there are few very bad reviews on this movie. I think most of these reviews have come from British viewers who did not like mockery of themselves. I understand it is hard sometime to see the mockery of yourself, specially if you the one who mocks others. Well this is 21st century and British are no more ruling the world. Face it man.

Rise of the Taj is quite a fair reflection of a confident Indian facing the British with confidence and pride. It is also a reflection of the fact that Britain is still divided into two classes the cynical asshole snobs ( who wouldn't mind of conquer the world again) and the liberal class who accepts everyone one in the British Society with open arms.

One bad thing I would like to say about this movie is the ending. The characters of Taj's parents were really not required. They were bit pushy with their comic. The ending could have been also a little sensible.

All in all it is a good movie and I recommend people from both Britain and India to see the movie. For British viewers I would only like to say please enjoy the pun and don't draw conclusions.

Fmovies: Taj Mahal Badalandabad (played by Kal Penn) had a few funny moments in the movie (i.e. jokes regarding the former British aristocracy in India), but the movie almost nothing but sex jokes for the entire movie. This sort of humor included nearly a dozen different euphemisms for the female anatomy (I lost count), and countless jokes about how to "score" with the opposite gender. I laughed at the first few sex jokes, but by the end of the movie, I was really tired of hearing crude jokes.

If this sort of humor is appealing to you, then you'll enjoy this movie. Otherwise, don't bother seeing it. Overall, I felt "Harold and Kumar" was much more humorous. I'm a fan of Kal Penn's, but unfortunately, I cannot recommend this movie.

Brief Plot Synopsis (no spoilers below): Taj heads to Camford University (name taken from Cambridge and Oxford) in England to pursue his higher education and to follow in his fathers footsteps. He believes that he has been accepted to the prestigious fraternal guild "Fox and Hounds". However, upon arriving at the University, he is told by a "Fox and Hounds" member (nicknamed "Pip") that he was mistakenly sent this acceptance letter.

Taj is forced to become a teacher's assistant at the "Barn" residence, which contains a group of social outcasts. Pip and the other "Fox and Hounds" members treat Taj and his house mates very poorly. Determined to help the members of the Barn residence gain acceptance, Taj starts the "Cock and Bulls" fraternal guild. He hopes that the "Cock and Bulls" guild will win the Camford Cup, which is an annual academic, social, and athletic competition between fraternities. The bitterness between Taj and Pip only increases as the fraternities compete in several competitions to earn points towards the Camford Cup.

I cannot say anything more about the plot, or else I'll spoil it for you.

This movie was OK, but certainly no where near as good as a lot of college/party films. The character of Taj is pretty funny as well as his band of misfits in the Cock and Bulls frat. The geeky guy was probably the best. And Pip is certainly a slime ball. Taj comes to England to be a student teacher. He is also the house leader of a frat. He wants to win the Hastings Cup and really stick it to Pip. A lot of the film is Taj charming Pip's girl, Charlotte. There is also Sadie a member of Taj's frat, whom one could say has an ample bussom that is played for laughs.

Overall, there are a few laughs, but it has a long ways to go before I would call it a funny movie.

FINAL VERDICT: If you have to see every movie that is sort of like Animal House or Beerfest, then check this out. Otherwise, I would skip it.

Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj fmovies. I received a free preview ticket for this and should have stayed home. This was just an awful waste of time and money. I have to think that there is someone out there who could have used the studio's money for something better. There were actually people laughing uncontrollably at a guy getting hit in the groin with a paint ball! It was painfully obvious that this was getting ready to happen. It was like a bad sitcom pilot that went on for way too long. The only good thing here is that there are some fairly attractive females. Oh well, I guess this just wasn't for me. I really shouldn't be complaining though, it was free after all...

You know things aren't going well when the title character doesn't make an appearance in the 'sequel'. As much as I enjoyed Kal Penn in the first Van Wilder (and Harold and Kumar), he isn't given much to work with here.

The script is awful, just brutal. I think I laughed twice throughout the whole thing. I'm sure nobody is watching this type of movie for compelling characters and riveting plot, but when almost every single joke falls completely flat... every other blemish on the script becomes glaring. There are completely nonsensical subplots thrown about that reference secondary characters that you forgot were introduced in the first place, a silly competition that never makes any sense and an embarrassing turn by the bulldog that made his infamous scene from the first "Van Wilder" look like high art. If you sat a twelve year old in a room with a typewriter and told him to write "Revenge of the Nerds in England" he couldn't do much worse than what's given here. The worst part is that the movie gets consistently less funny as it goes on. The final 15 minutes or so is cringe inducing.

The direction isn't much better. The whole thing has a look of a made for cable TV movie you'd see on a kid's network. Not only is Kal Penn inconsistent with his accent from scene to scene, sometimes it's every other line. On a few occasions, I couldn't even make out the dialog. The actors clearly didn't give a clean read but it made through to the final cut anyways. I realize this was made on the cheap, but you can tell the folks behind the camera didn't put forth much effort. Either that or they didn't have the time. Regardless, it's not pretty to watch.

The only saving grace are the actors. Despite Kal Penn not bothering to hold his accent, everybody on screen appears to be having a good time. Even if everything else is awful, I can't hate a movie where it at least appears that the actors enjoyed their work. They all seemed determined to give their best despite what they all must have known was horrendous material. Kal and the female lead (Lauren Cohan) admirably build some chemistry with little help from their lines. Holly Davidson also steals a couple of scenes as the "cockney" member of the group.

While I didn't think this was a complete disaster, you'd be wise to avoid it.

I can not put into words how great "Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj" is. I have always said that cinema is in an "artistic coma" right now, and that it is impossible to make a movie greater than "Chinatown" or "2001: A Space Odyssey," but this film just proved me wrong.

I have already sent a letter to the American Film Institute asking that they edit their "Top 100 Films" list and put this movie right above "Citizen Kane." If Fellini were alive today, he would cry upon watching this film. When the credits began to roll at the end of this movie, I felt like I could hear the ghosts of Stanley Kubrick, Frederico Fellini, Sergio Leone, Alfred Hitchcock, Francois Truffaut, Orson Welles, and D.W. Griffith standing up to applaud.

Watching this film is, in the words of Will Ferrel as James Lipton, like looking into the face of God, having him smile back at you and saying, "You are my finest creation."