Van Wilder has been attending college for far too many years and is scared to graduate, but Van’s father eventually realizes what is going on. When he stops paying his son's tuition fees, Van must come up with the money if he wants to stay in college, so he and his friends come up with a great fund-raising idea – throwing parties. However, when the college magazine finds out and reporter, Gwen is sent to do a story on Van Wilder, things get a little complicated.
... Tara Reid plays a college journalist, but she looks like the six-time winner of the Miss Hawaiian Tropic Pageant, so I don't know what she's doing in here ...
– Richard Roeper,
Ebert & Roeper,
8 Apr 2002
fresh:
An effervescent campus gross-out comedy that's true to the amoral, anarchic spirit of Lampoon founder-editor and screenwriter Doug Kenney.
– John Patterson,
L.A. Weekly,
1 Jun 2002
rotten:
An unabashedly bad movie full of cliches, claptrap, fairly good rock 'n' roll and stomach-turning gross-out gags.
– Michael Wilmington,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Jul 2002
rotten:
An uneven mix of National Lampoon-style high jinks (yes, it feels slightly dated) and Farrelly-brothers touches tossed in for gross measure.