Here’s the demographic: American males under 25! We also learn, of course, that most of these movies are disgusting and not really very funny. But the top five, to tell the truth, are at least pretty funny and have moments of classic psychological insight and astute social commentary, while still not morally sound works of art. So they are guilty pleasures of us sinners: NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE, REVENGE OF THE NERDS, DAZED AND CONFUSED, AMERICAN PIE, and HAROLD AND KUMAR GO TO WHITE CASTLE. (The last title is mangled in the article.) Actually, REVENGE OF THE NERDS is rather eddifying. And don’t forget the Platonic motto of ANIMAL HOUSE’s Faber College: "Knowledge is good." So it is. Fat, drunk, and stupid really is no way to go through life. (It’s the combination that’s deadly, not the qualities considered in isolation.)
Study suggests sun rises in east! Study suggests that water, under many conditions, can make things wet.
Double Secret Probation for Daniel K.
I actually found very moving the moment in Harold and Kumar Go to the White Castle when our heroes at last come across the Grail-like White Castle burger joint which they’ve have been seeking during an all-night, cross-Jersey odyssey, and Kumar (Kal Penn) delivers a speech in praise of the immigrants--the HUNGRY immigrants, he notes--who came to the New World to build America. It’s comparable to the moment in Animal House when Otter (I think it was) pops out of the parade float/urban assault vehicle that the brothers of Delta House have built from Kent Dorfman’s older brother’s car and a large pasteboard mock-up of a cake, points to the reviewing stand and cries "Let’s take the cheese!" I admit to becoming slightly verklempt whenever I see either of these scenes.
That’s beautiful, man.