Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj (2006)

User Rating:

3.8/10   

Director:

Mort Nathan

Writers:

David Drew Gallagher (written by)
Brent Goldberg (characters) ...

Release Date:

1 December 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

The Legend is Growing.

Plot:

Taj Mahal Badalandabad leaves Coolidge College behind for the halls of Camford University in England, where he looks to continue his education, and teach an uptight student how to make the most out of her academic career.

Plot Keywords:

Second Part | Bulldog | Female Nudity | London England | Dog

US TV Schedule:

Fri. Oct. 10	2:35 AM	SHOW
Sun. Oct. 19	1:45 AM	SHOW

Cast

Kal Penn	...	Taj
Lauren Cohan	...	Charlotte
Daniel Percival	...	Pip
Glen Barry	...	Seamus
Anthony Cozens	...	Gethin
Steven Rathman	...	Simon
Holly Davidson	...	Sadie
Tom Davey	...	Percy
William de Coverly	...	Roger
Beth Steel	...	Penelope
Amy Steel	...	Alexandra
Jonathan Cecil	...	Provost Cunningham
Roger Hammond	...	Camford Dean
Kulvinder Ghir	...	Taj's Father
Shobu Kapoor	...	Taj's Mother

Also Known As:

National Lampoon’s Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (USA) (complete title)
Van Wilder Deux: The Rise of Taj (USA) (working title)
Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (Australia) (DVD title)

MPAA:

Rated R for pervasive crude sexual content, some nudity and language.

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | Finland:K-15 | Australia:MA | Singapore:NC-16 | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Bucharest, Romania

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The name Camford is a cross between the names Cambridge and Oxford, the two most prestigious universities in England. This is a reversal of the name Oxbridge which was created by Virginia Woolf.

Goofs:

Continuity: While proving Taj's innocence to the Provost, Charlie's cell phone is seen flipped to the camera configuration in the wide shot, in regular phone configuration for the close up, yet back to camera configuration when the wide shot comes back on screen.

Quotes:

Taj: verticle smile, scrambled eggs between the legs, sunny side up on the way to the butt

Movie Connections:

References "The Care Bears" (1985)

Soundtrack:

Fiddler's Tale

Not a total train wreck... but probably should be avoided

You know things aren't going well when the title character doesn't make an appearance in the 'sequel'. As much as I enjoyed Kal Penn in the first Van Wilder (and Harold and Kumar), he isn't given much to work with here.

The script is awful, just brutal. I think I laughed twice throughout the whole thing. I'm sure nobody is watching this type of movie for compelling characters and riveting plot, but when almost every single joke falls completely flat... every other blemish on the script becomes glaring. There are completely nonsensical subplots thrown about that reference secondary characters that you forgot were introduced in the first place, a silly competition that never makes any sense and an embarrassing turn by the bulldog that made his infamous scene from the first "Van Wilder" look like high art. If you sat a twelve year old in a room with a typewriter and told him to write "Revenge of the Nerds in England" he couldn't do much worse than what's given here. The worst part is that the movie gets consistently less funny as it goes on. The final 15 minutes or so is cringe inducing.

The direction isn't much better. The whole thing has a look of a made for cable TV movie you'd see on a kid's network. Not only is Kal Penn inconsistent with his accent from scene to scene, sometimes it's every other line. On a few occasions, I couldn't even make out the dialog. The actors clearly didn't give a clean read but it made through to the final cut anyways. I realize this was made on the cheap, but you can tell the folks behind the camera didn't put forth much effort. Either that or they didn't have the time. Regardless, it's not pretty to watch.

The only saving grace are the actors. Despite Kal Penn not bothering to hold his accent, everybody on screen appears to be having a good time. Even if everything else is awful, I can't hate a movie where it at least appears that the actors enjoyed their work. They all seemed determined to give their best despite what they all must have known was horrendous material. Kal and the female lead (Lauren Cohan) admirably build some chemistry with little help from their lines. Holly Davidson also steals a couple of scenes as the "cockney" member of the group.

While I didn't think this was a complete disaster, you'd be wise to avoid it.