Everybody Gets Laid

As we track through various college comedies, one title kept coming to mind for me: PCU, a comedy cult classic that bombed hard when it was first released (making only $4.3 Mil against a tiny $8 Mil production budget). This film got horrible reviews when it came out (Roger Ebert called the film "spineless" in its comedy which... isn't untrue, in fairness) but it became a reliable mainstay on Comedy Central, airing on weekends for all to see. And that was when the film found its audience and its cult status.

Like so many campus comedies, PCU is really about slobs vs. snobs, and if you've seen any of those kinds of films you know that the slobs will eventually win. The point isn't to see them win, though, it's to get involved in their antics and see the fun they have. PCU is a hang out film and whatever you may critique about it's story and substance (which we will get to), there is no denying that it's fun to just hang out and relax with the cast of clowns that make up the protagonists of the film. It's loose and breezy and silly, which makes it perfect Saturday afternoon cable fodder.

The film introduces us to the titular campus, Port Chester University via "pre-frosh" Tom Lawrence (Chris Young). Having come to PCU to see the campus before arriving in the Fall as a proper Freshman, Tom is assigned to James "Droz" Andrews (Jeremy Piven), the slacker leader of The Pit. Back in the early days of the university, the Pit was actually the home of the "Balls and Shaft" fraternity. But the "Politically Correct Culture" took over and frats were no longer allowed at PCU. The Balls and Shaft crew were out and the hippies of the Pit moved in. Since then, the house has been the home of slackers, stoners, and grunge rockers. You know, all the cool kids you see in college films.

While on a tour with Droz, Tom manages to piss off just about every reactionary group around the campus: the "cause heads", the Black Caucus, the post-grads writing their theses, and more. About the only group he doesn't piss off is the Pit, but they unfortunately have their problems: the head of the college, President Garcia-Thompson (Jessica Walter), finds the Pit crass and crude, ruining the "sensitivity of the campus", and she wants them out. That works fine for Rand McPherson (David Spade), leader of the Balls and Shaft society, who want their old house back. The unholy alliance could see a way to send the Pit packing, until they can get enough money together to pay for all the damages they've done this semester, all without lodging enough complaints to get them expelled. The solution: one massive party to unite the school. And it might just work...

Watching the film and then reading Ebert's review after the fact, I do have to admit that the critic did have some fair points (and these were points I was noticing as well while watching the film). The movie lacks bite, or any kind of edge, reserving it's bile and sarcasm for its easiest targets. The film has a title of "PCU", which seems like it's going to try and condemn "Politically Correct Culture", whatever that means, but the film really doesn't know how to condemn anyone or take a stance on anything except the most softball of issues. If you go into this film expecting something about "Politically Correctness", which was a big bugaboo back in the 1990s, then sure, the story on display here will fail you.

Part of the issue is that the film's stance on political correctness is centrist and middle of the road. The guys of the Pit are annoyed by the cause-heads (who protest everything, from red meat to chopping down trees, and more) and the womynists (feminists of the highest order), but it doesn't really want to debate them on the merits of their arguments. It has more fun causing mild hi-jinx in their presences and turning them into low-grade cartoon characters, which doesn't really help the film's argument about, well, anything. If the cause-heads were causing literal trouble then the Pit playing pranks on them might be a way of underlining basic issues with their argument. The whole reason the Pit crew go after the cause-heads at all (by throwing red meat at them) is because they're blocking off the cafeteria because "meat is murder". It's silly and says nothing about any of them.

The weird thing is that the crew that should really be railing against political correctness is Rand and his Balls and Shaft cronies. They hate everyone -- hippies, the Blacks, the gays, the poor, anyone that isn't a White Anglo-Saxon Protestant -- and are called literal Nazis by other people in the film. These are the ones that should hate PCU, not the slackers in the grunge rock house. The Pit crew shouldn't take a stance at all instead of being the supposed villains of the film (before making good). They're rascals, sure, but going out of their way to piss off everyone when literal MRA douche-bags are on campus seems like the ire of the film is directed in the wrong direction.

This also raises serious questions about why Garcia-Thompson is willing to team with Rand and his cronies. Yes, he's nicer looking than any of the Pit guys, but he's also rude, crass, and misogynistic. For all the flaws of Droz and the other members of the Pit, they seem to genuinely like everyone (so long as they don't get in the way of a good party). There's a far more obvious target that Garcia-Thompson should be going after -- Rand and his boys -- but the film never makes that connection. It's a flaw when, now, watching the film in our highly polarized times, it's hard to view anyone fighting against political correctness anything other than alt-right trolls, which the Pit crew are not. The films lack of a true ideology, as well as thirty years time since they film came out, has hurt its setup some.

With that said, the movie is tightly plotted in its own way. Like Van Wilder after it, PCU is a series of funny scenes that follow a crew of slacker fixers as they simply try to find ways to continue existing on campus for as long as they can. Droz is a perpetual student, having been on PCU for seven years and, despite saying he'll graduate soon, likely he's looking at lucky number eight in his future. He's a laid back guy just looking to have a good time, and all the dumb skits that happen around him are just another day in the life of PCU.

The trick is, though, that it all builds to a cohesive finale. Droz and his crew need to throw a party, so all the members go off in different directions to make it happen. Gutter (Jon Favreau) is supposed to get the beer but he gets stoned and passes out until it's too late to make the pick up. He does, however, run into George Clinton and the Parliament Funkadelic, who missed their show. That's great because the Pit's band, Everyone Gets Laid, is passed out and their instruments are fried. Katy (Megan Ward) needs to get people to attend the party, but then she runs into Tom again, who has the perfect way to find people, running back out into the quad and yelling at all the people chasing him, dragging a massive crew to the party so they can all celebrate. Every element of the film is well plotted and tightly executed so that, despite it's loose feel and slacker stylings, the film has a really tight pace and story.

And it does have an enjoyable time while doing it. While the antics of the Pit against the protesters might annoy some early on, that quickly fades away as they all focus on the party. Then the real fun happens as we settle into day in the life antics on campus. Disc golf games are watched, alcohol is liberated, cars are destroyed, alt-right dweebs are mocked, and a lot of low-stakes, easy fun is had. The film is able to mine decent comedy from its simple setups and then carry that through for a film where you'll generally laugh through out as the characters have a good time. It's not a laugh-riot film, it's just enjoyable comedic at a good pace.

I wouldn't call PCU the best college comedy, but it is a fun time. It has a few quotable lines ("don't be that guy"), plenty of amusing moments, and a breezy pace that carries it through. Ebert wasn't wrong with his assessment of the bite (or lack there of) of the film, but that doesn't really take away from the film's easy-going charms. It might not have wanted to make any kind of statement, but it at least is able to give us a cast of fun characters having a good time for a quick 80 minutes. On a Saturday afternoon, when you're chilling on your couch, sometimes that's all you need.