I did like the "Branch Rickey" joke, but I bet that gag was over the head of a lot of people who checked out "Stealing Harvard." Besides, that joke was in the trailer as were most of what ends up being the funny parts from this 2002 comedy. Please, raise your hand if you are sick and tired of trailers usually being better than the movies they trick you into going to see. If this movie did not have a trailer to give away the good parts I could have given it another star. The story that Peter Tolan and Martin Hynes come up with provides a good enough framework for a comedy. John Plummer (Jason Lee) and his fiance, Elaine Warner (Leslie Mann) have finally saved $30,000, which is enough for them to buy a home and get married. But John's neice Noreen (Tammy Blanchard) has just achieved her dream of being accepted at Harvard and she and her mother, Patty (Megan Mullally) have a videotape from many years earlier when Uncle John promised to pay for Noreen's college education. Noreen only needs $29 thousand and change in eleven days. John cannot just give Noreen the $30,000 that is earmarked for the new house and the only reasonable alternative, as suggested by his best friend "Duff" (Tom Green), is to steal the money.
This is easier said then done, an idea that could be handled creatively but is not in this film. Instead we have something on the level of "Raising Arizona" if written by high school students who only remember the worst episodes of "Saturday Night Live." This movie is just not funny and most of the cast is clearly trying too hard. A film in which Tom Green and Jason Lee are both too sedate is not a good sign. Richard Jenkins plays the only character who seems comfortable with their role, but I do want to mention that in the last act of the film Leslie Mann's Elaine suddenly turns out to be a bit more than a woman who tends to cry during sex, which was a pleasing surprise.
The plot has its standard complications. Elaine is the boss's daughter and daddy (Dennis Farina) makes a point of asking each day if John is sleeping with his little girl and is looking for someway to break up the couple, aided in his effort by Rex the Dog (Zeus). Meanwhile, John and Duff have to contend with both Detective Charles (John C. McGinley) and local thug David Loach (Chirs Penn) as they try to figure out a way of "Stealing Harvard." But you keep coming back to the idea that certainly Green and Lee could have come up with better ad libs that what ends up in this lame little comedy.
The working titles for this film included "The Promise," "You Promised," "Say Uncle," "Uncle," and "Stealing Standford." If you check out the deleted scenes there is a point where Noreen wants to go to "Northern," so that last one makes me wonder how hard it would have to do regional versions of this film: Harvard for the East and Stanford for the West, then something like Notre Dame or Illinois for the Midwest and Duke or Miami for the South. But then why stop there? They could change one visual, dub a handful of scenes, and every major college in the country could be the target school for this movie, everything from "Stealing Auburn" to "Stealing Wyoming." That would be one one to generate interest in this movie and get poeple to see it. Then again, it might have been cheaper just to actually make it a funny movie.
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Stealing Harvard happens to succeed on every single level of entertainment. At least, according to my tastes (which may or may not stink, hehe).It's about a man who makes a promise to his distraught niece after she fails a spelling bee that, if she were to ever make it into college, he'd pay for it. Well skip ahead several years later and, to his absolute surprise she DOES end up going to college, and to Harvard of all places!
It turns out she needs 30,000 bucks. From here the storyline kicks in, and to me, it's a really funny movie that never fails with the laughs. Of course you could argue that once the guys nerdy friend enters the picture to help with the money situation, the humor goes down significantly (because he is fairly annoying, to be honest). He's kind of obnoxious most of the time.
However the incredible twist of horrible luck (and humorous segments) the poor guy has to endure just to come up with 30 grand is quite the spectacle to watch. Despite being a comedy you can't help but feel sorry for the guy. Without spoiling anything, he has to put up with utter crappiness at every single turn it seems.
I mean, just think about thishis girlfriends father hates his guts, the police department gradually catch on to his sneaky ways, and his girlfriend is always questioning his every move. Somehow, for the sake of his nieces future, he has to find ways to avoid *everybody* and focus on obtaining the money.
Overall, it's a really good movie. The humor and storytelling are both really well-written which is a rare find these days. Oh, and a certain dog scene at the end is absolutely priceless (and inappropriate to share!)
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Would have been WAY better film if they had given Tom Green's character more time but still manages to provide a good laugh on the spray painted holdup scene.Want Stealing Harvard (2012) Discount?
I went to see this movie with my friends, and we all walked out laughing. I saw this movie before I ever saw Road Trip, and that was also funny, but this is much better. I love all the charactors (But Jason Lee, Tom Green are the best together). The two main charactors are great friends, but when you put them together, all of their plans go wrong. John (Lee) promised his niece that he would pay for her college when she was little, and forgot all about it. She was accepted to Harvard and now he must find $30,000 somewhere. (direct quote) "I had only one option. I had to go to a man who's ideas were sometimes so dumb they were brilliant: I had to go to Duff". The plot is not even really important to the comedy, it just makes the entire thing make sense in the end. I don't want to tell you what happens, so I'll just say one thing more: this is the only movie I own that is even funnier every time I watch it.Save 42% Off
