SH!THOUSE/ FRESHMAN YEAR

Cooper Raiff, Dylan Gelula, Amy Landecker, Logan Miller.

Directed by Cooper Raiff.

This is an American fraternity film – but with a difference. It was written, produced, directed, starring Cooper Raiff, 23 at the time of release. While it has some of the popular ingredients of the Animal House variety, it is rather a talking film, dramatisation of characters and interactions.

Reviews and audience reactions have not only been mixed but, often polarised. The director’s age group have tended to identify with the characters, situations, issues discussed, challenges at college. Others have found it extremely boring, no action. And older viewers who have teenagers have expressed the opinion that it would be good to watch this film with them. However, older audiences (that is probably 25 to 30 and over) have found the film very tiresome, the characters uninteresting and unsympathetic.

Cooper Raiff portrays a freshman who is devoted to his mother and sister, continually phoning them, but something of a loner, sharing a room with an Animal House devotee (Logan Miller), a would-be stand-up comedian who is not funny, a drinker, lying in his soiled clothes having to be rescued. Alex tries partying, interaction with some girls.

However, the main part of the first half of the film is his meeting with the freshman assistant in his hall, Maggie Hill (Dylan Gelula), talking, sexual encounter, then walking at length and talking, all kinds of issues, and her pet turtle and her discarding it and whether it should be buried, she rather feisty, he tending to be teary, talk that the young audience can identify with, talk, scripted and/or improvised, that older audiences find difficult to listen to (it is, like, um, you know, like, to listen to, totally!). Alex is smitten, Maggie is very offhand – and, two and half years later, while she is acting and Alex is in the audience, they meet up again to…