Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj

 (2006)

by Tuna

Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj - Unrated (2006) follows Taj, who has learned everything Van had to teach him, to a prestigious British school, where he will do his student teaching while studying for his doctorate. To save money, much of the film was shot in Romania.

Taj has been accepted into the most prestigious fraternity on campus, and hopes to become a champion horndog as well. When he arrives, it turns out that the rich, royal snobs in the fraternity were playing a joke on him, and that he had not been accepted at all. He ends up in their equivalent of Animal House, which includes a drunken Irishman with anger issues, a nerd who is trying to solve the riddle of getting laid mathematically, a guy who doesn't talk for reasons that we learn later, and a Cockney girl who is a total potty mouth, and is looking for love, or at least a nice fat mouthful to suck on. He officially makes them a fraternity, falls in love with the head snob's girlfriend, proves that he is a great teacher, and transforms the motley crew he is living with into something approaching normality. He then takes on the snobs in a series of challenges for a prestigious cup, while winning the girl away from the snob.

The IMDb score is way too low in my estimation. The material is not especially original, but I liked many of the characters, and enjoyed spending time with them. Some of the dialogue was snappy as well. This is in the same mold as Van Wilder, American Pie, etc. I found it watchable, if brainless.

 

 

Scoop's notes:

Although Tuna kinda liked it, the correct score is either E or F on our system. The odds are very slim that you will like it, irrespective of a favorable predisposition to the type of film or the star or even the film's predecessor. Tuna was almost literally the only person in the world who did like it.

  • It is scored 2.4 at IMDb, among the bottom 70 of all time. And that score has been "stuffed" upward!
  • It is scored 1.1 by the top 1000 voters at IMDb, lowest of all time. This group can't be "ballot stuffed."
  • It was a box office failure of legendary proportions, possibly the worst of all time. It was in about 2000 theaters and grossed $2 million in its opening weekend. Just to prove that was no fluke, it dropped 62% in its second week and 93% in its third week.
  • Only 6% of the reviews were positive, placing among the worst ten films of the year.
  • Metacritic scores it 21, and estimates that it was the sixth-worst reviewed film of the year.
  • In general, people who liked the first Van Wilder hated it, and people who like Kal Penn hated it. Sample quotes:

"First let me start by saying I was a huge Van Wilder fan and enjoy all of Kal Penn's work, be it in Van Wilder, Harold & Kumar, and even American Desi. This film, however, was a disaster."

"I'm brown, British, loved Van Wilder and Kal Pen but this film is utter shit. Unfunny, unimaginative, badly directed and written."

  • Even Ryan Reynolds (the original Van Wilder) must have hated it. He refused to do it, and he's never shown any resistance to doing sequels. (Blade: Trinity, e.g.)

DVD INFO

* Widescreen anamorphic

* Deleted scenes

* Gag reel

* "The Rise of Taj" featurette

* "On Set in Romania: Kal Penn Tours The Barn" featurette

* Music videos

THE CRITICS AND ACADEMIES

6 Rotten Tomatoes  (% positive)
21 Metacritic.com (of 100)

THE PEOPLE

   
2.4 IMDB summary (of 10, 67th worst)
1.1 IMDB top 1000 voters (of 10)

THE BOX OFFICE

Box Office Mojo. A mega-bomb that should never have appeared in theaters at all. It grossed only two million on its opening weekend in 2000 theaters, four million altogether.

NUDITY REPORT

  • Lauren Cohan, as the girl Taj is fighting for, shows breasts ...
  • ... as does Elena Tecuta, in a pretty much gratuitous but funny scene.
  • The Cockney girl's character shows breasts in a badminton game, but it was a body double, according to the "making of" featurette. Also, she shows what looks like pokies in a beer chugging contest, but admitted that it was actually peanuts inside her shirt.

Google
 

Our Grade:

If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to read the explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by our definition, a C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:

E

It is reviled by critics, by moviegoers, and even by fans of the star and the original film.