“It’s just one beer; nothing’s gonna happen tonight.“ – Miles Teller as Miller
What’s good: There are a few laugh out loud moments.
What’s not good: It gets way too serious at the end.
What happened: Good friends are really hard to come by. They will be there for you when everything is great and when everything is not so great. So if you find one, you better hold on to them. ’21 and Over’ reminds us just how important real friendships truly are.
Jeff (Justin Chon) Casey (Skylar Astin) and Miller (Miles Teller) have been best friends since they were little. They haven’t seen each other in a long time and Jeff’s twenty-first birthday is the perfect excuse to hang out again. Casey and Miller’s surprise goes quickly awry when they find out that Jeff has an extremely important interview early in the morning. To make matters worse, Jeff’s father Dr. Chang (Francois Chau) is personally picking him up to make sure he goes. Dr. Chang is an incredibly hard man to please and will accept nothing less than perfection from his young son. An initially reluctant Jeff is convinced that everything will be alright if they go out for a couple of drinks. Besides, how much trouble can you get into in one night?
The drinks start flowing and suddenly, one bar turns into several. The guys begin to realize that they don’t know each other as well as they thought. Miller has been hiding a secret about his education. Nicole (Sarah Wright) proves to be a constant reminder of Casey’s problem. Yet, the biggest mystery of the night will be what’s been going on with Jeff. Everybody is having a great time until they run into Randy (Jonathan Keltz). A wild night out soon becomes an out of control affair. Miller and Casey must get Jeff back home for his big interview before it’s too late.
’21 and Over’ is an extremely crass film that falls short of expectations in so many ways. Justin Chon does a decent job and is quite endearing throughout. You will find yourself rooting for him to win in the end. Miles Teller was especially funny with his crude and offensive humor. The funniest moment was what happened to Jeff Chang when they tried to escape from a sorority house. This scene and much of the physical humor is actually very good in this film. Wait until you see how much damage is inflicted by a buffalo. If you are easily offended by crude humor and racist jokes then this is not for you. This movie makes fun of Jews and Asians among others. Be prepared for lots and lots of male butt cheek too. This film is more mildly amusing than it is funny. The main issue with ’21 and Over’ is how serious it became in the last half of the film. The revelation of what happened to Jeff seemed out of place after all of the absurdity that we saw earlier. Jeff’s reason for what he did was pretty weak too. Keeping everything silly would have made more sense. Also, it was hard to believe that they couldn’t figure out how to get Jeff home. It is completely unbelievable that they couldn’t find it when the truth is revealed. We all make mistakes but, this one was absolutely insane.
Bottom Line: ’21 and Over’ is a forgettable flick that you are better off seeing when it goes to cable television.
Grade: C-
Rating: R Run time: 1 hour, 33 minutes
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