Struggling to choose which DVDs to take with you to uni? Hannah Taylor has a few suggestions
Are you a big film geek on a tight budget? No worries! Lois Cameron has you sorted with some money-saving suggestions
Interested in campus visual media? Have a read-through your options for when you come to York!
Natalija Sasic shares her story of how she became a writer for The Yorker - and how you can be one too
10. Old School (2003) Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell and the gang decide to start their own college fraternity (whatever the hell that is). As expected, things don’t go according to plan. ‘You’re my boy, Blue. You’re my boy…’
9. Rules of Attraction (2002) Jason Van Der Beek redeems himself for years of Dawson’s Creek awfulness, with a film adaptation of Ralph Ellison’s novel on university experience, which basically boiled down to copious amounts of sex and drugs. Funny and disturbing, it’s a master class on how not to spend your time at university.
8. Boys and Girls (2000) Freddy ‘he’s not that annoying’ Prinze Jr. and Claire somebody or other run into each other every five years or so, and always end their encounters with a blistering row. Thrown together at university (what are the chances?) they become more than just ships passing in the night.
7. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
This is Russell Crowe’s only film where he has to be taken seriously as troubled maths genius John Nash. Economics geeks will have an enjoyable time, and so will the rest of you.
6. Road Trip (2000)
Random group of students take a road trip to win back one of their number’s ex-girlfriend. The major snag occurs when the car blows up. Includes that hilariously offensive man-child from the American Pie franchise and the irrepressible Tom Green.
5. Wonder Boys (2000) Michael Douglas is an ageing English professor wondering where the hell he went wrong with his life. Tobey Maguire is a troubled student who can’t do anything but go wrong with his life. Robert Downey Jr. is a camp literary agent who doesn’t trouble himself with life at all. It’s excellent.
4. With Honours (1994) Harvard student Brendan Fraser is blackmailed by a wise homeless man (Joe Pesci) who is holding his thesis ransom. Fraser feeds and shelters the tramp per day in return for pages of his dissertation. Very funny, and Pesci’s final speech in a lecture is legendary.
3. Orange County (2002)
Colin Hanks is a loveable surfer geek who longs to escape his shallow surroundings by going to a top university. However, his dreams are dashed when his moronic guidance counsellor mixes up his grades. Cue another road trip.
2. Van Wilder (2002) Big man on campus Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds) loves university so much he doesn’t want to leave, and has been an undergraduate for the better part of a decade. And who can blame him? But Van faces expulsion for non-payment of fees when his father disowns him. Hilarious, epic, and surprisingly moving.
1. The Paper Chase (1973)
The always overlooked epic in which Harvard Law student Hart must survive in the acerbic Professor Kingsfield’s Contracts class, and coincidentally finds out that his new girlfriend is actually Kingsfield’s daughter. Hart learns that while a degree is obviously important, it’s also just a piece of paper.
I'd say that 'Starter for Ten' deserves a spot on this list - it captures the university atmosphere perfectly
Ah, that's a good one.
Loser is also quite lovely.
Ah, too right. I found it a bit weird, though, that most 'college' films were made between 2000-2003 and hardly any other time (or maybe just the ones I know of). One more would have broken the camel's back.
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