A Reel Opinion: The Top 10 Best College Films

As stated in last week’s blog on the Top 10 Best High School Films (HERE), late August is the time of year when back to school is plastered on every store in sight. For high schoolers, it can be time of dread. But for kids who are college-bound, it is a glorious time. It doesn’t matter if it’s a freshman or a senior or a class in-between, the thought of going back to college is liberating; a time to get away from home, partake in the fun and wildness on campus, and earn what’s needed to step out into the real world. 

The college life has had a fine representation on the silver screen. Just like high school, sports is an easy go-to, with campus dramas such as RUDY (1993), and THE PROGRAM (1993) tackling the gridiron. Campus competition is always a source for good drama, with the Anna Kendrick-led PITCH PERFECT (2012) a good example. Even the Rodney Dangerfield-led BACK TO SCHOOL (1986) took a dip into collegiate sports. College of course is all about getting ready for the real world, with THE GRADUATE (1967), featuring a young Dustin Hoffman figuring out his future, and Joel Schumacher’s ST. ELMO’S FIRE (1985) looking at graduates who never really left college. Even Pixar got into the game in 2013 with MONSTERS UNIVERSITY. The best college films are the ones that sum up the campus experience; all the learning, un-learning, insanity, and the transition to adulthood. These are Reel Speak’s Top 10 Best College Films. 

So let’s give it the ol’ college try…

10. EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!! (2016)

It’s hard to read the title of this film without hearing the catchy chorus of the Van Halen tune of the same name, and that’s a good thing…because that tune sums up this Richard Linklater-directed romp perfectly. A hang-out movie without much of a plot, WANTS SOME spends its time in the first few days of a new year on campus, where students are not only figuring out where to go, but the pecking order and cliques that will define their social status for the next 10 months. Firmly set in the glorious 1980’s, it’s realistic, fun, and makes for a perfect double-feature paired with Linklater’s high school comedy, DAZED AND CONFUSED (1993)

9. THE SOCIAL NETWORK (2010)

David Fincher’s Oscar-nominated drama about the founding of social-media giant Facebook. Much of this film takes place off-campus as it moves to courtrooms and the Silicon Valley, but the focus never leaves these young men…college students, who somehow manage to take what education they have and create a product worth billions of dollars. Seduction and betrayal happens, perhaps helped along by their young minds. It’s not the best message, but it also shows the great things a motivated student can accomplish, and sometimes it’s best to shake up the old establishment. 

8. HORSE FEATHERS (1932)

The great-grandfather of college films, brought to us by the Marx Brothers. Groucho and his ‘stache plays a president of a fictional school recruiting new football players to boost their chances against a rival. Those new players (Chico and Harpo), come to school and spark a whole lot of tomfoolery. HORSE FEATHERS is set in a time long gone, where college was a lot more formal. But the Marx Brothers were always ahead of the game, and much of the fun here comes at the expense of that formality; the jokes poke fun at that stuffy attitude towards academia of the time. 

7. REAL GENIUS (1985)

Val Kilmer, years before he would become Doc Holliday or Batman, plays a very chill super-genius at a prestigious school for science who refuses to get burned out over heavy workloads…while corrupting his new freshman roommate (Gabriel Jarret), and working on a top-secret laser-gun project for his shady professor (William Atherton). The plot involving the laser is a tad absurd, but REAL GENIUS brilliantly takes sci-fi and sprinkles it on college life, and the experiences that the students have here are universal. Workloads and burning out are an important theme, and the film shows us that having a little fun here and there is vital. 

6. GOOD WILL HUNTING (1997)

Matt Damon plays a self-taught genius working as a janitor at MIT, who reconsiders his future after combative therapy sessions with a psychology professor…played by the late great Robin Williams. College years are all about taking our present and applying it to our future, and that is the way for this Gus Van Sant-directed drama. Loaded with emotional moments and an excellent cast (Ben Affleck, Casey Affleck, Stellan Skarsgard, Minnie Driver), GOOD WILL HUNTING finishes strong and makes an impression. Nominated for nine Oscars and winner of two; including Best Supporting Actor for Williams. 

5. THE PAPER CHASE (1973)

One of the more obscure entries here, but that doesn’t take away from its importance. Timothy Bottoms plays a first-year student at Harvard Law who gets off to a rocky start, and then goes onto to start an affair with his professor’s daughter. The heart of the film comes when Bottoms breaks up his classmates into groups; those who give up, those who are trying, and the upper echelon. It’s a classification system that works on every campus in every era, and provides ground zero for every college story that has come since. Nominated for three Oscars and an inspiration for a TV series of the same name. 

4. LEGALLY BLONDE (2001)

Reese Witherspoon re-invented herself in this comedy, playing Elle Woods, a stereotypical sorority girl who decides to give Harvard Law School a try (what, like it’s hard?). Directed by Robert Luketic, LEGALLY BLONDE doesn’t hang on the dumb-blonde thing, and shows any one person can be smart without being snooty, and can enjoy all things pink while also practicing law. Discovering one’s many likes (and dislikes), is an important part of college life, and that is the basis for the film which gives it a weight. Witherspoon took home a Globe for her performance, and the film spawned one sequel (so far), and a musical. 

3. HIGHER LEARNING (1995)

The late great John Singleton directed this drama following three freshman at a fictional university; an athlete (Omar Epps), who struggles with academics, a naïve and shy girl (Kristy Swanson), and a lonely kid feeling out of place (Michael Rapaport). Aside from capitalizing on the usual campus characters, Singleton bravely looks at race relations, sexual assault, and moral responsibility…all issues and lessons that his characters learn the hard way long before they graduate to the real world. It’s a dark film and that’s part of its greatness, as it stands out in a large crowd of breezy comedies. It sports an ensemble cast including Ice Cube, Jennifer Connelly, Regina King, Busta Rhymes, Adam Goldberg, Kari Wuhrer, and Laurence Fishburne. 

2. REVENGE OF THE NERDS (1984)

Before Anthony Edwards doctored TV’s ER into a ratings monster, he was nerdy Gilbert; loyal companion to equally nerdy Louis, as played by Robert Carradine. Together, the two nerds head off to college together full of hope, only to come under persecution from elitist jocks and stuffy fraternities. This film wasn’t a box office or critical hit at the time, but over the years has earned a cult following and rightfully so. The persecution the nerds deal with is akin to a civil rights story, and in broad strokes it has the classic sensibilities of good vs. evil. The usual elements of college pranks, smoking up, hooking up, and a subtle message of brains over brawn are used to great effect, and the overall theme of friendship makes this 1980’s romp timeless. 

1. ANIMAL HOUSE (1978)

The standard by which all college films are judged by. Directed by John Landis and written by the late great Harold Ramis, ANIMAL HOUSE is an unbridled look at campus life in the early 1960’s, with a trouble-making fraternity challenging the authority of the Dean. It’s loaded with hedonism and anarchy, and many of the jokes and scenes have not aged well into today, but it does capture the wildness of a fraternity; the rebellious nature of youth and the freedom that comes with being on your own. The film made the late great John Belushi a sudden movie star, and his scenes to this day have survived into pop culture in the form of posters on dorm walls and social media memes. College can be nuts, and there’s no movie nuttier than ANIMAL HOUSE.  

REEL SPEAK'S TOP 10 BEST COLLEGE FILMS

1. ANIMAL HOUSE
2. REVENGE OF THE NERDS
3. HIGHER LEARNING
4. LEGALLY BLONDE
5. THE PAPER CHASE
6. GOOD WILL HUNTING
7. REAL GENIUS
8. HORSE FEATHERS
9. THE SOCIAL NETWORK
10. EVERYBODY WANTS SOME!!

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Special thanks to fellow film blogger Rich Drees for inspiring these last two scholastic blogs.