"ANIMAL House" was a big hit when it premiered in 1978 and instantly inspired legions of imitators. Almost all of them missed the smartly satirical points and focused instead on gross-out humor and cheap sex jokes (think the "Porky's" franchise, the "Police Academy" franchise, etc.). To that long list of third- and fourth-rate comedies we can now add "Sorority Boys."
The plot about three hedonistic chauvinists expelled from their fraternity and forced to seek refuge in a sorority house disguised as women is never developed beyond TV sketch depth. Of course, this is another movie where the filmmakers' idea of character development is to remove a woman's glasses to transform her into a desirable companion.
Harland Williams, Barry Watson and Michael Rosenbaum in "Sorority Boys."
(Touchstone Pictures)
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The enduring legacy of "Animal House" is evidenced by the appearance in "Sorority Boys" of Mark Metcalf, Stephen Furst, James Daughton and John Vernon – Neidermeyer, Flounder, Marmalard and Dean Wormer, respectively, in the National Lampoon classic. (Poor Vernon is dragged in for a thankless one-line cameo.) Amazingly, while Daughton played the president of the evil fraternity in "Animal House," here he portrays the father of Dave, the movie's frat boy hero (TV's Barry Watson). The filmmakers not only missed the point of "Animal House," they're rooting for the wrong side!
This is not accidental casting. Producer Larry Brezner admits in the press kit that his reaction to reading the script was to think of "Animal House" and "Tootsie." "Sorority Boys'" tag line, "The only way to become one of the boys again ... is to become one of the girls," more than hints at the message of "Tootsie," another movie that managed to both confront issues and ideas and still be wildly funny. "Sorority Boys" merely (and literally) tosses around sex toys and offers half-hearted paeans to empowerment that are repeatedly undercut by the brutality of the jokes, most at women's expense. Violations of all sorts are played with a matter-of-factness that suggests that the writers are coldly cynical if not downright inhuman. Sadly, the laughter from the audience suggests that they have their fingers on the pulse.
While Harland Williams as Doofer/Roberta is legitimately funny, the best the other actors can manage are pale-yet-blatant Will Ferrell impressions and semi-Chevy Chase mannerisms.
"We're not supposed to see behind the curtain," says Michael Rosenbaum as cross-dressing Adam/Adina, neatly summing up the filmmakers' real take on male-female relations. And though producer Walter Hamada announces that the heartless characters "have something to learn, and we've found a way to show that without having the characters get preachy or make speeches," he is wrong. Intelligence-insulting speeches occur, more than once.
"You all should be ashamed of yourselves," says Dave in one of the film's many preachy speeches, but of course shame will not take root in Hollywood. The studio is so confident that "Sorority Boys" will capture the fancy of the moviegoing public that the writers are already at work on a sequel.
SORORITY BOYS (R, 94 minutes) – Contains crude sexual content, nudity, strong language, drug use, degradation of women, degradation of men, degradation of humanity. Area theaters.
