Like a promising student who never quite delivers on their potential, "Dead Man on Campus" had the makings of a quirky college comedy going for something a little different than the usual sophomoric approach.
Despite the intent, it doesn't make the grade. Episodic and unevenly paced, the comedy stalls every time it threatens to gain momentum, boosted by colorful character turns.
While its back-to-school timing is understandable, its core audience will likely be too preoccupied getting its own dorms in order to pay much attention to the MTV Films/Paramount collaboration.
Tom Everett Scott ("That Thing You Do!") is Josh, an earnest freshman attending ivy-covered Daleman College on a scholarship. Unfortunately, his roommate is Cooper (Mark-Paul Gosselaar of "Saved by the Bell"), a party-all-the-time rich kid who proves a bad influence.
As Josh's baptism by bong water results in plummeting grades with semester's end rapidly approaching, the pair turn to the renowned "Dead Man's Clause" as a last, desperate resort.
Qualifying as the stuff urban legends are made of, the clause apparently awards a 4.0 grade-point average to a student whose roommate dies -- provided, of course, that said student didn't cause the death.
With little time to waste, Josh and Cooper break into the mental health clinic to steal files of potential victims to recruit as roommates. But things turn out more complicated than they seem.
Working from a script by Mike White and Michael Traeger, frequent MTV director Alan Cohn eschews the loud, obvious route for something more subtle and Laid Back. The problem is, while that might have worked in a small-screen format, the direction and material scream for forward momentum here.
The cast is fine, with Scott playing Tom Hanks to Gosselaar's Michael Keaton, but things only really come alive with a trio of scene-stealing turns from their potential victims: Randy Pearlstein as clinically paranoid Buckley, Corey Page as faux-depressive Morrissey clone Matt and, particularly, Lochlyn Munro as dangerously gonzo Cliff.
Technically, "Dead Man on Campus" receives high marks. There's definitely an MTV-style look, thanks to cinematographer John Thomas ("Barcelona") and Carol Winstead Wood's spare, unfussy production design.
The audio end is even more satisfying -- from the jittery score by Devo-tee Mark Mothersbaugh and college radio-ready tunes by the likes of Blur, Supergrass and Propellerheads to a Dust Brothers-Marilyn Manson cover of David Bowie's "Golden Years" and '60s supermodel Twiggy's take on "I Only Want to Be With You".
DEAD MAN ON CAMPUS
Paramount
in association with MTV Films
A Pacific Western production
Director: Alan Cohn
Producer: Gale Anne Hurd
Screenwriters: Michael Traeger and Mike White
Story: Anthony Abrams & Adam Larson Broder
Executive producers: David Gale and Van Toffler
Director of photography: John Thomas
Production designer: Carol Winstead Wood
Editor: Debra Chiate
Costume designer: Kathleen Detoro
Score: Mark Mothersbaugh
Music supervisors: Peter Afterman and Amy Finnerty
Color/stereo
Cast:
Josh: Tom Everett Scott
Cooper: Mark-Paul Gosselaar
Rachel: Poppy Montgomery
Cliff: Lochlyn Munro
Buckley: Randy Pearlstein
Matt: Corey Page
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
Despite the intent, it doesn't make the grade. Episodic and unevenly paced, the comedy stalls every time it threatens to gain momentum, boosted by colorful character turns.
While its back-to-school timing is understandable, its core audience will likely be too preoccupied getting its own dorms in order to pay much attention to the MTV Films/Paramount collaboration.
Tom Everett Scott ("That Thing You Do!") is Josh, an earnest freshman attending ivy-covered Daleman College on a scholarship. Unfortunately, his roommate is Cooper (Mark-Paul Gosselaar of "Saved by the Bell"), a party-all-the-time rich kid who proves a bad influence.
As Josh's baptism by bong water results in plummeting grades with semester's end rapidly approaching, the pair turn to the renowned "Dead Man's Clause" as a last, desperate resort.
Qualifying as the stuff urban legends are made of, the clause apparently awards a 4.0 grade-point average to a student whose roommate dies -- provided, of course, that said student didn't cause the death.
With little time to waste, Josh and Cooper break into the mental health clinic to steal files of potential victims to recruit as roommates. But things turn out more complicated than they seem.
Working from a script by Mike White and Michael Traeger, frequent MTV director Alan Cohn eschews the loud, obvious route for something more subtle and Laid Back. The problem is, while that might have worked in a small-screen format, the direction and material scream for forward momentum here.
The cast is fine, with Scott playing Tom Hanks to Gosselaar's Michael Keaton, but things only really come alive with a trio of scene-stealing turns from their potential victims: Randy Pearlstein as clinically paranoid Buckley, Corey Page as faux-depressive Morrissey clone Matt and, particularly, Lochlyn Munro as dangerously gonzo Cliff.
Technically, "Dead Man on Campus" receives high marks. There's definitely an MTV-style look, thanks to cinematographer John Thomas ("Barcelona") and Carol Winstead Wood's spare, unfussy production design.
The audio end is even more satisfying -- from the jittery score by Devo-tee Mark Mothersbaugh and college radio-ready tunes by the likes of Blur, Supergrass and Propellerheads to a Dust Brothers-Marilyn Manson cover of David Bowie's "Golden Years" and '60s supermodel Twiggy's take on "I Only Want to Be With You".
DEAD MAN ON CAMPUS
Paramount
in association with MTV Films
A Pacific Western production
Director: Alan Cohn
Producer: Gale Anne Hurd
Screenwriters: Michael Traeger and Mike White
Story: Anthony Abrams & Adam Larson Broder
Executive producers: David Gale and Van Toffler
Director of photography: John Thomas
Production designer: Carol Winstead Wood
Editor: Debra Chiate
Costume designer: Kathleen Detoro
Score: Mark Mothersbaugh
Music supervisors: Peter Afterman and Amy Finnerty
Color/stereo
Cast:
Josh: Tom Everett Scott
Cooper: Mark-Paul Gosselaar
Rachel: Poppy Montgomery
Cliff: Lochlyn Munro
Buckley: Randy Pearlstein
Matt: Corey Page
Running time -- 89 minutes
MPAA rating: R...
- 8/21/1998
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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