Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj (2006)

The Worst Film Ever

A Major Disappointment

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Kal Penn) leaves Coolidge College behind for his father's Alma mater Camford University in England. He was expecting to be admitted into the Fraternal Guild, Fox and Hounds. However the jerk president Pip plays the usual joke on commoners, and Taj gets relegated to the worst house, the Barn. It's a dumping ground where all the rejects are placed. At the campus Society Inaugural Ball, Taj meets Pip's girlfriend Charlotte Higginson (Lauren Cohan), and announces his house, the Cock and Bulls, is competing in the Hastings Cup.It's not really Van Wilder. It isn't even in the same vain as Van Wilder. This has much more in common with 'Revenge of the Nerds'. There's nothing particularly wrong with that. I don't expect Ryan Reynolds to lower himself to return to this franchise. Nevertheless, it still misses Reynolds. Kal Penn doesn't have quite the same boyish charm.

I really can't figure out why anyone figured that there would be an audience for a sequel to "Van Wilder", considering that the original movie didn't exactly set the box office on fire, and was simply a bad movie. Whatever the reasons might be, we have this sequel, and it is abysmal. To be fair, not everything about it is terrible. The main character of the movie, Taj, is portrayed as a warm and likable fellow, and this appealing character is complimented by a amiable performance by Kal Penn. Apart from Taj, however, the movie is terrible. The movie is extremely predictable - I successfully predicted numerous gags and plot twists before they were actually executed on screen. The script is also bad when it comes to fleshing out the supporting characters. Taj's mates are barely constructed, and the main villain of the movie is just a retread of the standard campus jerk you've seen in other college movies before. Worst of all is the fact the movie isn't the least bit funny. Before making this movie, the filmmakers should have taken a refresher course at film school.

This movie is basically the EXACT same thing as the first movie but made with a different character. It wasn't too terrible to watch but I wasn't that impressed either. Nowhere near as great as the first one! I'd say it's worth it if you find it in the bargain bin for $5 or less but otherwise I wouldn't waste my money. Also wondering why, at the end of the first movie, Taj hooks up with this beautiful Indian girl but in this movie he has nobody and ends up hooking up with a girl in this one as well.. Not very good continuity if you ask me but I guess Hollywood is running out of ideas for original movies so they just do whatever they can to try and make a buck.. It's a shame really.

This highly redundant sequel involves Taj stuck in that tired old plot where he has to lead some misfits into victory against a superteam of unbeatable snobs. Meanwhile he also falls in love with our main villain's girlfriend. Gee, I wonder how all this will end. Kal Penn tries his best and comes of as pretty sympathetic, but these lines he gets are just, ugh. How many double entendres can you cram into an hour and a half? The first time it's pretty funny, the thirtieth time not so much. The writing just consists of working in the word "hard" with every opportunity that comes along. The most amusing scene comes somewhere in the middle, and that's just because it's ripped of from the first one. Are there really any redeeming qualities to this movie? Well, I'll give it a go. The lead snob lays it on really thick, which makes it somewhat enjoyable when he gets his comeuppance. That's pretty much why I kept watching, to see what would happen to him. Also, Holly Davidson is pretty hot. That's pretty much it. It's not enough to hold together a movie, sadly.