For any who have once been plagued by college applications and waited diligently by their mail boxes, just to find out they’ve been turned down, there’s a movie that’s sure to speak to you.
“Accepted,” a comedy directed by Steve Pink, was released on DVD Tuesday, November 14, and proves to appeal to just about any young person who has ever applied to college. The movie revolves around the character of Bartleby Gaines, played by Justin Long (“The Break Up,” “Waiting.”) Gains is a high school senior whose lax attitude about school has led to his being turned down from every college he applied to.
To curb his parents’ wrath, whose only wish was to see their son go to college, he and his friends invent their own college: South Harmon Institute of Technology, or SHIT for short. In order to pass the school off as legit, they create a website and lease a shut-down mental institution. After some fixing-up, they use it to successfully fools their parents during “orientation.” Unfortunately the web site is almost too believable as hundreds of other students show up on opening day as well.
Gains, with the help of the million dollars he’s received from the students’ parents in tuition money, and his very capable friends, manage to run the school. South Harmon uses a completely new form of teaching. Students decide what kind of classes they want and the school provides them. All in all, things seem to be running quiet well. However, when a neighboring college, Harmon University, wants to expand their grounds into the spot South Harmon is currently occupying, their secret is discovered and Gains is forced to prove his college’s legitimacy before they get shut down.
Though this film will give viewers flashbacks of other teen/college comedies, its story line is fairly unique. The film is funny, and worth watching, unless the viewer’s concern is believability, an aspect the film chose to ignore entirely. “Accepted” runs 90 minutes and is rated PG-13. Grab it at a store near you.