Shiherlis just saw DEAD MAN ON CAMPUS and loved it. So what? Well, it is the first bit I've heard of the film, and anything that someone likes this much deserves some attention, so I'm gonna be looking for other views on this one, so we can get a better sense of it. Here's Shiherlis...
Last night I attended a screening of Dead Man On Campus at Paramount. It was a test screening with about 100 high schoolers and a few people from Paramount and a few of the stars (Mark Paul Gosselear included). Although the guy announced that this was a "work in progress," it was pretty much finished. The opening credits were finished and the soundtrack sounded like it was practically fully locked. The only thing missing was the final credits. By the way, the theater was freezing, but I digress.
Up front, I must tell you, the movie was great. The audience was laughing the entire time (myself included, and I am closer to thirty than to twenty) and everyone I went with seemed to have a great time and was pleased with the movie. Now on to the details.
The movie is about that urban myth - if your college roommate commits suicide, you get straight A's for the semester. Matt (I think that was his name, but I could be wrong, definitely played by Mark Paul Gosselear sporting black hair unlike back in "Saved by the Bell" bleached blonde days) is roommates with Josh (definitely his name and definitely played by Tom Everitt Scott) in their first semester of college. The opening credits were very cool - names imbedded in a test booklet - very funny as well - while David Bowie's "Golden Years" played. Matt is the consumate partier and loved by everyone on campus (ala Ferris Bueller) and Josh is on a six-year med school program with full scholarship. They have a third roommate, Kyle, who is from an all-boys Catholic school and has swimsuit posters all over his walls. He soon falls in love with a girl who attended an all-girls Catholic school and goes to live at her place for the semester leaving his room unoccupied. Josh soon ropes Matt into partying hard and by mid-semester Josh is failing and is almost mathematically certain to lose his scholarship while Matt's overbearing father has threatened to yank him out of school if he doesn't shape up. They embark on a hilarious mission to find the most unstable person on campus, get him to be their roommate and then get him to commit suicide. There are eventually three recruits who they go through - each more hilarious than the previous - but I won't spoil the ending.
The movie is totally one-liners, bathroom humor, and childish, but I loved it. It made me laugh for an hour and half - what more could you want? Gosselear was good (not great) as the Ferris Bueller-type. He delivers the lines well, but I wonder if comedy is actually his strong suit - mind you I really like him as an actor and I don't want to take anything away from him. Scott is good as the shy, brainy-but-cool, reluctant roommate. The highlight though are the characters sprinkled throughout the movie including the fat hallmate and the three recruits.
If I were to predict how this movie is going to do, I would say it has a good chance at $100 million - seriously (I heard Paramount is making a similar prediction and I wouldn't discount it). Everyone knows this legend and as long as they give it a good trailer and get some decent word of mouht out there, you could have a big sleeper here, although Can't Hardly Wait may steal some business if they're out around the same time - I think Dead Man is coming out late July, so they might not overlap too much.
Anyway, I hope some of this is of interest...I am outta here.
- Shiherlis
