21 AND OVER

US, 2013, 93 minutes, Colour.
Miles Teller, Skylar Astin, Justin Chon, Sarah Wright.
Directed by Josh and Scott Moore.

Having seen the trailer, I had fairly low expectations – and these were fulfilled. Although, to be fair, after all the extravagant crassness, it does veer towards something of a moral tone and hopes for better behaviour.

They say these days that 75 is the new 65 etc. Does that mean that 21 is the new 11? Well, this film does seem to indicate this. Two friends arrive at a college to celebrate the 21st birthday of their old friend, a Chinese American who is about to have an interview for his studies of medicine (supervised by his father who loathes the two friends).

Well, you guessed it. They take him out and not only does he get ultra-drunk, he behaves in an idiotic, lewd and stupidly crass ways. One of the friends has some sense, the other is an American Yahoo, preoccupied by drink, drink, drink and sex and any other mad behaviour. Actually, Miles Teller is quite a skillful actor and certainly portrays his ‘character’ accurately. He knows what he is doing in creating this yahoo. (I suppose he has had plenty of practice – he is appearing in a number of similarly themed films including the 2012 film Project, which didn’t seem to have any redeeming features.) Poor Justin Chon, he has to spend most of the film being an idiot – humiliating for him.

For someone from Mars visiting this planet, thinking that this was normal human behaviour, they would be extremely puzzled as they watched it. Is this what it is to be human? They mightn’t last until the last ten minutes when some more sense gets into the screenplay.

Does it mean that today’s 11 year old boys are going to be like this in ten year’s time?