Upon discovering Mitch's new digs, his friends Beanie (Vince Vaughn) and Frank (Will Ferrell) decide to establish a fraternity as a way to escape their own marital hells and recapture their youth. Seeing how none of the three are college students, they decide to wave that requirement and attract a motley crew of rejects and like-minded males as pledges. This attracts the attention of Dean Pritchard (Jeremy Piven), an old college "friend" of the boys who decides to shut their fun down.
When it comes to discussing Old School, the movie Animal House usually isn't far behind. While both movies involve rowdy fraternities, it would be unfair to Animal House to place it in the same category as Old School. That isn't to say that Old School isn't a good movie - it's easily one of my favorite Will Ferrell movies and one I can't help but watch whenever I see it on TV. At the same time, it is far from a great movie. The big difference between the two is that, while Animal House includes its fair share of raunchy humor, it manages to balance that with some fairly high brow laughs. Old School, on the other hand, always aims low.
Again, don't take this as a condemnation of Old School; it is still a good, solid comedy. Much of the credit for this goes directly towards the three leads. Each brings a different sort of humor to the frat party that helps balance out the movie. Luke Wilson has more of a dry wit that is the polar opposite of Will Ferrell's absurd assclown shenanigans. If there's any weak link it's Vince Vaughn, who basically just plays himself in every movie - not that it's a bad thing.
The Blu-ray release brings both improved picture and sound, though neither is particularly needed unless you have a burning desire to see Will Ferrell's ass in HD. The included extras aren't new either as all are taken directly from the DVD release. "Old School Orientation" is a promotional piece that is worth it just for the actor interviews. The deleted scenes and bloopers are okay, though it isn't that hard to see why most found their way on the cutting room floor.
Two extras that are worth the time, however, are the commentary and "Inside the Actors Studio Spoof." The first includes running commentary from Writer/ Director Todd Phillips, Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell. Listening to the three stars talk about the movie, it's easy to see that there's a real chemistry there. The track is extremely funny and even includes some fun production stories and some of the background behind certain scenes. Even better is the "Actors Studio Spoof" where Will Ferrell reprises his impersonation of James Lipton for a short interview with the three stars and director. I won't give any of the jokes away (you sort of need to see them for yourself), but this is a must-watch for Ferrell fans.
As far as the "Unrated" tag goes, all it really means is that you get to see a few topless girls and a little more of naked Will Ferrell, so anyone hoping for more than that will be disappointed.
Even though Old School: Unrated doesn't include any major features over the DVD release, given the option, however, I'd probably shell out the extra for the Blu-ray. The sound and picture doesn't make that much of a difference, but when it comes to my favorite movies, I always like to have the best possible version.
