After not being accepted into any of his choice or even back up colleges, Bartleby Gaines (known as “B”), with the help of his friend “Hands,” who also wasn’t accepted into any colleges, and Schrader, who was accepted into Harmon, creates his own college. The idea to make up a college belongs to B when his parents find out about all of his rejection letters and become very upset, convincing him he’s throwing his life away and that he should be more like his sister, who, at a young age, already has her life planned. B gets the idea when solemnly looking at his rejection letters, figuring he can easily scan in the letters, and photoshop bits and pieces together to form an acceptance letter from the South Harmon Institute of Technology, a college that doesn’t exist... Yet.
B knows that his parents are going to look for how accredited the school really is, so Schrader, against his better judgment, creates a website for the school, that looks very legit. He puts on the school goals and such, and states that acceptance is just one click away. (later a big problem for the group) Hands gets a letter too, in order to please his parents, and while discussing the school with their parents, they find out they are to be dropped off at school. During their discussion of what to do about finding a place to act as the college, Rory, another rejection, tells them she knows a great place to lease, on one condition, she can join them in a plot to fool their parents into thinking they were accepted into at least one college. Overhearing their plan, Glen wants to join in and is reluctantly allowed.
On to work the group goes, leasing an old psychiatric facility with the money for a years tuition. It takes a lot of work, but finally, the place looks very professional. They have themselves a college, until B’s parents want to speak with the dean. So off they go, getting Ben, a retired educator to act as dean. He’s able to pull it off on the first day of college, convincing B’s parents the school is ‘real’ with good standards. Complications arise on the way to the office, but quick witted B is able to fix them.
Finally the parents leave and B and his friends are left to relax and enjoy their time goofing off, doing what they please.... That is until hundreds of other young adults show up at the doorstep, having clicked on the acceptance letter Schrader so helpfully made up. Just as B is about to tell them off, he realizes that they are all in the same boat he was, and he finds he just can’t turn them down, plus, they all brought 10 thousand dollars tuition which comes in useful for helping them spruce the place up (with a pool and skateboard half pipe to name a few things). Classes are developed based on what the students want to learn and the original group that ‘founded’ the school comfortably settle into roles within the school atmosphere, which mimics their interests.
All is going well until one of the actual Harmon colleges finds out what is going on and find a way to end it. All the students are left with their disappointed parents and B has an even bigger problem, a court appearance. Now their goal is to convince the board that South Harmon Institute of Technology is a place where learning and growth do occur, though not necessarily in a structured form.
This movie is great for both genders, with a little bit of romance added in for the girls and male oriented humour for the guys. And the funny parts aren’t just for guys, I found myself laughing out loud and even smiling during many parts of the film. The South Harmon Institute of Technoglogy’s acronym (S.H.I.T.) was used too extensively. It was quite humourous to begin with, but its use went overboard so it became expected after a while, losing it’s funny touch. The movie is an excellent comedy and some good morals were added to make the movie have more of a purpose. The actors did a great job playing their unique characters, leading one to think that the actors enjoyed their roles. What I’m trying to say is that their roles seemed natural for them, and the uniqueness of each character lead to interesting, yet funny scenarios. I would definitely recommend this movie to teens, and to students heading off to college soon (it might help to relieve some of their fears or nervousness through comic relief).
After not being accepted into any of his choice or even back up colleges, Bartleby Gaines (known as “B”), with the help of his friend “Hands,” who also wasn’t accepted into any colleges, and Schrader, who was accepted into Harmon, creates his own college. The idea to make up a college belongs to B when his parents find out about all of his rejection letters and become very upset, convincing him he’s throwing his life away and that he should be more like his sister, who, at a young age, already has her life planned. B gets the idea when solemnly looking at his rejection letters, figuring he can easily scan in the letters, and photoshop bits and pieces together to form an acceptance letter from the South Harmon Institute of Technology, a college that doesn’t exist... Yet.