I swiped this idea from Stylus (RIP) Magazine’s On Second Thought segment where they reviewed albums that had been released not too long ago.  However, my incarnation, As I Come Back, will cover just about anything semi-old that is NOT music related.  First up is the 2003 comedy Old School.

After watching this movie on TNT over the weekend while down the shore on vacay, it’s astonishing to notice three things:

1.  Will Ferrell was incredibly funny as the third guy.  “Frank the Tank” was his breakout role, and along with Elf, he was able to solidify himself as one of Hollywood’s best comedy draws.  I saw Step Brothers last night* and it’s amazing how much funnier Will Ferrell is in short bursts via Old School rather than playing some retarded fill in the blank (Nascar driver, ABA hoopster, male figure skater, foosball enthusiast, gizz mopper) for 90 minutes.  His cameos in Starsky and Hutch (“What are you wearing?  Be honest.”) and Wedding Crashers (“Mom!  Meatloaf!  Fuck!”) are legendary.  He’s the Inspectah Deck of comedy–absolutely deadly at spitting 16′s but mostly mediocre when asked to carry the load.  Anchorman is still the funniest movie of this decade though.

Ferrell takes his Shed Guy character from SNL (“GET OFF THE SHED!”) and morphes him into a streaking party monster with a soft side for frozen yogurt, Sisqo CDs, and guys named Blue.  He’s naive, sweet, and immature.  He re-gifts a bread maker to an 8 year old (“Check it out Max: three speeds!”).  And he outwits James Carville in a political debate.  Great work.

*Quick review of Step Brothers: take all the physical threats offered in Anchorman/Ricky Bobby/Semi-Pro, add a helping John C. Reilly and Mary Steenburgen, let bake for 70 minutes on 50% power, and voila!  Two Stallone Claps out of 4.

2.  The cast of Old School is jampacked with great comic actors: pre-Ari Gold Jeremy Piven, pre-Jennifer Aniston Vince Vaughn, Matt Walsh of the excellent yet deceased Comedy Central show Dog Bites Man,  Andy Dick as Barry the Oral Sex Teacher, Dan Finnerty of The Dan Band as the Wedding Singer (“I fucking need you now tonight!”), and of course the Bishop Don Magic Juan as Himself.  

3.  Craig Kilborn really, really sucks as an actor.  It pains me to say that because I grew up idolizing him on Sports Center before ESPN bought 48% of all the breathing air in America.  His catch phrases (“Do a little dance, make a little glove”) weren’t as stiffly forced or as corporate “hip” as folks like Stuart Scott, Rece Davis, or Stephen A. Smith.  He kept The Daily Show warm before Jon Stewart made it the preeminent fake news show that it is today.  His Late Late Show on CBS was kinda decent–the theme song was kinda badass on some spy movie theme song type ish.  His 5 Questions segment was always fun.  But the Craig Kilborn Persona he developed on the Late Late Show, egotistical, smug and aloof, comes off as pedestrian in Old School.  Every scene he’s in feels like you’re watching Craig Kilborn try hard to not be Craig Kilborn while letting you know it’s Craig Kilborn running around on his girlfriend, getting a new house, and intimidating Luke Wilson.  It’s the opposite of a Rodney Dangerfield movie.  I’m sure there’s some metaphysical term for what Craig Kilborn did in Old School splitting his “self” three ways, but morons like me just say, “Wow, he’s not very good at acting.”

Final rating:

Still hittin’