Freshman Orientation (2005)

Clay's got the perfect plan to get the sexy sorority blonde of his dreams, but his scheme backfires- and Clay soon finds himself in the middle of a hilarious gender-bending battle of the sexes led by vicious sorority girls and drunken frat boys. Featuring Sam Huntington, Rachel Dratch and John Goodman, Freshman Orientation is a wild college romp that's sure to become a classic!

"Animal House" meets "The Birdcage" ...

During "Freshman Orientation" (2004), incoming freshman Clay Adams (Sam Huntington) spots freshman co-ed Amanda (Kaitlin Doubleday), a perky blonde former prom queen, who is clearly out of his league. Amanda later notices Clay, but - due to a fraternity pledge prank - assumes that he is gay, and Clay plays along, thinking it is his only chance to date let Amanda get to know him. He is unaware that Amanda isn't really interested in him, but is playing along with a sorority dare to string along a gay boy as a boyfriend, until breaking up with him at the first sorority party of the season. Of course, Amanda falls in love with Clay almost as much as he is with her, resulting in a rather predictable comedy of errors.

In essence, this is a typical college student sex comedy, with a definite gay bent (hence the subtle play on words in the title "Orientation". Hey, it beats the heck out of its original title, which was "Home of Phobia"!). Besides "fake gay" Clay, there are several other gay characters, including a flamboyant bar owner, played by John Goodman ("Roseanne") who offers the non-stylish Clay a "makeover." There are scemes at the college GLBT student group meetings, a night out for Clay and Amanda at a gay dance club, a roving campus slut (played by SNL's Rachel Dratch), a queer "poetry slam" night with a surprise star, a campus protest to the supposed gay-bashing of Clay, and the "coming out" of someone close to Clay.

Some reviews have compared it to "I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry", and it would be a masterpiece based on that criteria. But the truth is that this film also relies a bit too much (although not as much as C&L) on tired old stereotypes about gays and lesbians. More than that, it suffers from the typical college sex comedy malady of lacking any real focus or direction, for the most part, and seems longer than it really is. Rated R for sexual content, female frontal nudity, and some drug use. On DVD, and occasionally on rotation on Here!TV On-Demand. DVD has no real extras. I'll give it three stars out of five. August 22, 2008

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