Comedy films were hard to include on this list because what a person finds funny can be specific and tied to a moment in time. But I wanted to include a few of the “classics” from a variety of eras and landed on a few films, “Animal House” being one of them. And, at the risk of catching a lot of shit for this because I know it's popular, I honestly thought it was just ok.
Functioning as a series of skits stitched together (the famous toga partycould practically be its own short-film), I’m not sure a plot recap is worth it, but here it goes: Two college freshmen seeking admission to a fraternity end up at Delta Tau Chi, a rambunctious mess of a frat full of alcoholic students (although most seem to avoid school). As a result of their poor academic performance and a series of conduct policy violations, the frat is then placed on “double-secret probation” but the clan continues to drink and screw. This leads to the revocation of the Delta’s charter—which leads to more craziness—which leads to their expulsion—which leads to a zany finale in which the frat guys fight back in their own way.
At its best, “Animal House” is a hilarious and subversive movie about pushing back against out of touch authority figures. From the principal, to the ROTC/drill sergeant guy, the mayor, other frat leaders, bullies, Delta brothers had to, and did, deal with each in their own fun way. I loved the films commitment to gags and reoccurring laughs, such as the accidental horse death or the golf ball in the soup. And the film was super fun in many scenes (my favorite being the “Shout” sequence during the toga party).
But I think that in many ways, the film is showing its age in ways I can’t ignore. Never-mind the chat about if fraternities are even relevant to today's college experience, there was a ton of jokes and premises that don’t play in 2018, such as the large gag around stealing copy-film out of the trash to cheat on a test. And finally, not trying to be an unfun snowflake, but the ‘getting girls drunk so they’ll finally have sex with you’ motif that ran through out the ENTIRE film felt indelicate and cringey by today's standards. But in short, the story just meandered around skits. With no characters you’re meant to care about in a serious way, when skits don’t land, the movie doesn’t.