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Accepted (film)

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Accepted
Movie poster for Accepted
Directed bySteve Pink
Written byAdam Cooper
Bill Collage
Mark Perez
Produced byMichael Bostick
StarringLewis Black
Justin Long
Blake Lively
CinematographyMatthew F. Leonetti
Music byDavid Schommer
Distributed byUniversal
Release dates
August 18, 2006
Running time
92 minutes
CountryUSA
LanguageEnglish
Budget$23 million

Accepted is a 2006 comedy motion picture about a group of high school seniors who, after being rejected from all colleges to which they had applied, create their own college.

Synopsis

Template:Spoiler

Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) is taking headshot photos of a few students during a lunch break in an empty classroom. Bartleby is actually making fake IDs for these students, but is immediately interrupted when his best friend, Sherman Schrader (Jonah Hill) walks in and tells him to wrap it up because the teacher that teaches in the classroom they are in right now comes in at exactly a certain time and does his routine: eating an apple and reading a workout/fitness magazine. With all the equipment laying everywhere, and all the students in the classroom, Bartleby quickly gets everyone to pretend that they are rehearsing for a recital, just as the teacher walks in. The teacher is furious, and begins questioning their purpose in the classroom. Bartleby starts to use his "wisdom¨ to get them out of trouble: he points out the fitness magazine that the teacher holds in his hand is actually a great issue, and he goes on to to say that he tried to read a few pages of it yesterday but the pages were actually glued by some "natural adhesive.¨ That made the teacher extremely uncomfortable, knowing he is the one that got the pages stuck together. He quickly rushes the kids out the classroom without any further questions.

Bartleby says that he uses his wits to get away with a lot of things, even to get what he wants. As he walks down the hallway with Sherman, he gives a few examples of what he has done in the past. One of the incidents is with a school bully, who always picked on Bartleby, but Bartleby got that bully suspended for two years on a sexual harassment charge. In reality, he was slammed onto lockers by the bully, but he told the dean he felt their genitals connected.

Sherman is bragging about getting into one of the finest school in their area, Harmon College, where he is actually going there only because his whole family went there, dating back a couple generations. Bartleby has already been rejected by eight schools, and he got another one that day, which meant he did not get into any schools he applied to. At the same time, a cute girl named Monica Moreland (Blake Lively) comes up to Bartleby and Sherman and talks to them. She said she's having this party tonight, and just when it seems like she was going to invite Bartleby, she actually just needs him to come over in the afternoon to mow the lawn. Bartleby is embarrassed, but agrees, as Monica jumps into an SUV that her boyfriend Hoyt Ambrose (Travis Van Winkle) drives.

At home, Bartleby is having dinner with his parents Jack (Mark Derwin), Diane (Ann Cusack), and his younger sister Lizzie (Hannah Marks). His parents are concerned that he did not get into any of the colleges. Bartleby even tries to use his wits to convince his parents that he could work instead of waste their money on tuition. But the dad is furious, and he insisted that Bartleby go to college. Later, Bartleby stares at his many rejection letters. Eventually he thinks of scanning the letter and using his talent in creating believable identification, he comes up with the South Harmon Institute of Technology, and typed up an acceptance letter. He showed this letter to Sherman and his close friend Hands Holloway (Columbus Short). Sherman is not too pleased. Starting as a temporarily solution to his college rejection, he also asks Sherman to build a website of the school, knowing that Bartleby's dad is extremely thorough and will do his complete research of this school.

Next day, the parents hand over mail to Bartleby, and even though they never heard of the school South Harmon, they bought it, and are relieved and proud to find out Bartleby got in. The dad immediately checks out the fake school website, and believes it. He also immediately gives Bartleby a check for ten thousand dollars for the first semester. Just when Bartleby is relieved, the dad tells him, "Your mom and I can't wait to drop you off." Now this tiny little lie is on a much larger scale, so he gathers a few of his friends, all of them who were rejected by their colleges except for Sherman, and they need a place so that they can temporarily fool their parents. One of Bartleby's friends, Rory Thayer (Maria Thayer) knows an old psych ward that is now abandoned.

Upon arrival to the place, the building is fenced and looks more like a haunted house. But it is the perfect place in Bartleby's mind. There is a big entrance, a reception area, classrooms, rooms with beds to act as dormitories, and there is even a cafeteria and all the other school-related needs. All they need is to clean and remodel the place a bit, and they already have the ten thousand dollars Bartleby's dad gave him as tuition. With everything remodeled, the broken down house now looks like a college.

Just when everything is going according to plan, Bartleby's dad asks to schedule an appointment with the dean. Now Bartleby is out to look for a person willing to act as their dean. He happens to know that Sherman's uncle, Dr. Benjamin Lewis, was a former faculty from Harmon College (Lewis Black) who quit teaching and now works at a shoe store and preaches about the conspiracy of the government and their tactics that are out to suck all the money and wisdom out of Americans. Uncle Ben is fired by the shoe store as Bartleby goes by to recruit him, and he agrees to pretend to act as the dean.

On the day of parents arrival, Rory gets some extras to fill in as students, only to fool the five parents that are dropping their kids off. Bartleby's parents come, have a meeting with the dean, and checked out the dorm rooms, which still have bars on their windows and restraints on their beds. Bartleby's sister is the only person not convinced, but the parents buy it, and all is good for Bartleby and his friends.

As the gang is sitting around the school, a person knocks on the door. One student with ADD keeps talking, saying that he is accepted to the S.H.I.T. and he is here for orientation. Behind this ADD kid, there are about 300 other kids in the back with their bags ready to move in, all claiming that they are accepted to this college, and all of them begin to pay Bartleby ten thousand each for tuitions. Confused, Bartleby checks out the website that Sherman created, on one page, it says, "Acceptance is only a click away¨ literally. That's why everyone is accepted. Bartleby is convinced by Sherman that the right thing to do is to send everyone home and tell them the truth. But then he realizes that every one of the students has been rejected, and if he rejects them, he will be just like all the other colleges that rejected himself to begin with. So he gives a big speech about how they will stick it to the man together, and they are all accepted.

With all the money, now Bartleby starts to pay for a cleaner facility, better dorm rooms, and a lot of entertainment systems, such as the half pipe for skateboard and a big pool. The students are told to do whatever they feel like doing and actually create their own class subjects. All the class subjects are written on a white board by students, classes such as "Do Nothing 101¨ and "The Art of Sleeping¨ etc. The entire school just sits around and parties all day.

Meanwhile, Sherman is being hazed during his pledging to be in this fraternity that his entire family went to. He is definitely not accepted by the frats, and he is constantly embarrassed and made fun of by the rest of the house. The leading brother of the house is actually Hoyt Ambrose himself . He never clicked with Bartleby, and also because Bartleby seems to be close with his girlfriend Monica. Monica and Bartleby actually got kind of close after they chatted a few times about her dream of becoming a photographer and how the school restrains her from being one. She visits Bartleby quite often at South Harmon, and being rich now, Bartleby gets her a really nice camera to encourage her to follow her dream. Hoyt gets jealous of what is going on, and plans to get Bartleby. Harmon College is managed by a Dean Richard Van Horne (Anthony Heald), who really wants to create a fantasy entrance to his school by taking out everything that is in his way, which includes the old psych ward that is currently South Harmon. Realizing that Sherman is Bartleby's friend, they hazed Sherman. Beating all the information out of Sherman to gain the knowledge of the fraud, and taking all the evidence with them. Hoyt manages to contact all the parents for a parents day, and also have Dean Van Horne called the board of education to exploit the fake school.

The parents show up, and Bartleby is forced to tell the truth about South Harmon and is charged with fraud and all the students are taken away by the parents. Disappointing his parents once again, Bartleby receives a letter one day from the board of education. Thinking he is wanted for a hearing, he opens it to find out that the letter is actually an application that someone applied for him to make South Harmon a real school. He found out it was Sherman, and the two of them made up and decided to go with this.

During the hearing, all the students that attended South Harmon are present and fully supporting Bartleby. On the other side is Dean Van Horne, Hoyt and the rest of Harmon College that are out to terminate South Harmon. The board, heads by Dr. J. Alexander (Ned Schmidtke), requires being a school, one will need three criteria: a facility (which is a psych ward), faculty (which they only have one, and had not been a teacher in a long time) and a curriculum (which they bring out their white board to show the courses that they offered). All of the criteria is shaky and seem to throw the hopes away for Bartleby and South Harmon.

Bartleby realizes this is the time he should use his wits to his advantage. Facing rejections once again from the board members of the committee, Bartleby makes a speech about following their own dreams, and not be restricted to what the school allows them to do. He claims schools like Harmon College are great but they limit the creativity of students and at South Harmon, they allow their kids to find their talents and set their own goals. As the verdict is concluded, with most of the board members still shaking their heads, the South Harmon Institute of Technology is approved, and will grant a one year probation and supervision to further their way of teaching. Everyone cheers and Monica comes over to hug and kiss Bartleby.

The South Harmon Institute of Technology is now officially a real college, with Bartleby and Dean Lewis acquiring a number of accredited instructors and legitimate resources while still continuing to venture studies beyond traditional classrooms, and more students are walking around for orientation, with Monica and Sherman transferring from Harmon, and a banner that reads "Welcome to South Harmon, SHITheads!"

Template:Endspoiler

Cast

Box office

  • On opening weekend it made an estimated $10,023,835 in the USA and Canada.
  • As of October 19, 2006, the movie has gained an estimated $36,323,505 in the USA and Canada.[1]

Soundtrack

Other songs not included on the soundtrack:

  • "Close to Me" by The Cure plays in Bartleby Gaines room whenever the disco ball comes down
  • "Holiday" by Green Day plays when the students are skating on the halfpipe. There has been some confusion over the fact that Weezer and Green Day each have a song by the title "Holiday" in the movie, but only the Weezer song is on the official soundtrack.
  • "Everything is Alright" by Motion City Soundtrack plays during the DVD commercial.
  • "Hangin on the Half Pipe" plays at the BKE frat party where Monica caught Hoyt having an affair with Gwynn and Sherman being humiliated in sperm costume. The DVD also featured a music video of the song featuring the casts and crew.

Video and DVD release

The movie was released on VHS and DVD on November 14, 2006, in both Widescreen and Fullscreen.

The DVD includes: "Adam's 'Accepted' Chronicles"; "Reject Rejection: The Making Of 'Accepted'"; Self-Guided Campus Tour; "Hangin' On The Half Pipe" Music Video; "Keepin' Your Head Up" - The Ringers Music Video; Feature Commentary with Director Steve Pink, Justin Long, Lewis Black, Jonah Hill and Adam Herschman, Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Featurette, Gag Reel, Music Videos

and the HD-DVD:

Side A - High Definition: All Standard Definition Features plus - Picture in Picture Commentary with Director Steve Pink, Justin Long, Lewis Black, Jonah Hill and Adam Herschman; Production Photographs
Side B - Standard Definition: "Adam's 'Accepted' Chronicles"; "Reject Rejection: The Making Of 'Accepted'"; Self-Guided Campus Tour; "Hangin' On The Half Pipe" Music Video; "Keepin' Your Head Up" - The Ringers Music Video; Feature Commentary with Director Steve Pink, Justin Long, Lewis Black, Jonah Hill and Adam Herschman

Trivia

  • The plot is similar to the 1994 film Camp Nowhere, except that Camp Nowhere is about a summer camp.
  • Two references (intentional or not) are made to another film of the 'rebellious teen' genre, The Breakfast Club. First, Bartleby's sister demands a fake ID in exchange for her promise not to tell their parents about Bartleby's endeavor. When Bartleby insists that he won't let her drink alcohol, she sneers that she wants the identification so that she can vote. The same reasoning was used by Anthony Michael Hall's character Brian in The Breakfast Club when Andrew (Emilio Estevez) questioned why he had a fake ID. Secondly, a readaptation of Simple Minds' song Don't You (Forget About Me) is playing in the school party scene. The song was famously the theme song of The Breakfast Club.
  • Most, if not all, of the computers in this movie are shown to be made by Apple Computer, and/or run Mac OS X. Coincidentally, Justin Long became well known in the months running up to this movie's release for his appearance on a series of Get a Mac campaign advertisements.
  • The Simpsons used the S.H.I.T. joke over a decade before this movie, with the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology; as did students at Rochester Institute of Technology once it moved from downtown Rochester to South Henrietta (a suburb) in 1968.
  • The Harmon campus was shot at the Chapman University campus in Orange, CA. However, the climate portrayed in the movie is not inconsistent with Ohio (e.g. average highs in Cincinnati only drop below 60 F in November; the movie supposedly portrays the months of September and October. )
  • Harmon is based on Hiram College in Hiram, OH. This is noticeable in several places, notably that the film is set in Ohio and a reference is made to James A. Garfield attending Harmon. James Garfield not only attended Hiram (then the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute), but became a teacher and later the president of the college.
  • Harmon College and S.H.I.T. were also likely intended to be parodies of real world institutions Harvard University and M.I.T. respectively. Both Harvard and M.I.T. are located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while Harvard is viewed by some as an elitist institution
  • The infamous Japanese movie Battle Royale was referenced several times. In one scene, Bartleby asks his friend Glen what should they do with the large number of applicants for their fictitious Institute. Glen replies, "Battle Royale" (the movie's plot concerns schoolchildren forcefully sent by the Japanese government to fight to the death on a deserted island; those who refuse to do so are killed)
  • The phrase "a little can-do attitude and some elbow grease" was taken from Dodgeball, a movie Justin Long was also featured in.
  • The phrase "You're adopted" was taken from Dodgeball, a movie Justin Long was also featured in.
  • With 62 "shit" words used in this movie, this film got the most "shit" words used than any other "PG-13 film". However, 1 out of the 2 uses of "fuck" was literally bleeped out in order to get a PG-13 rating.
  • The scene where Bartleby is attempting to saw through a chain attached to a radiator is very similar to the movie Saw.
  • "Uncle Ben" in the movie is called "Dean Lewis", which is in relation with his real name, Lewis Black.
  • The S.H.I.T. Sandwich mascot is actually Justin Long's brother, Christian Long.
  • The character Rory, actually sharing the same last name with the actress who plays her, Maria Thayer, noting on the South Harmon's meditation garden at the ending of the movie.
  • Rory's name may be a reference to Rory Gilmore from the CW television series Gilmore Girls. The latter Rory did get admitted to Yale.
  • Anthony Heald (Dean Richard Van Horne) played the Harmon college's dean where he also played a vice principal in Boston Public.
  • The home address of the main character's family, the Gaines', is 3507 E. 47th Place, Wickliffe, OH 44092. The city is not fictional (see Wickliffe, Ohio), however the address is.
  • Bartleby's parents' names, Jack Gaines and Diane Gaines, could be a reference to the popular John Mellencamp song entitled "Jack and Diane".
  • The accreditation scene bears a very close resemblance to the disciplinary hearing scene from Animal House.
  • Bartleby's own name is very likely a reference to Herman Melville's Bartleby the Scrivener.
  • A Sequel is planned, set to run straight where the first ended with the college trying to become fully accreditted while fighting off the evil dean of Harmon

Plot holes and goofs

  • South Harmon's web page was created as a .edu site, yet this cannot be done without accreditation.
  • South Harmon is given accreditation by the State of Ohio, however American colleges and universities are not accredited by the government, but by independent, non-profit accrediting agencies.
  • The plot of becoming accredited to be legal is incorrect. Many organizations and private colleges exist today without being accredited yet being wholly legal. The process of accreditation is more about being able to transfer your courses to other colleges by teaching in whole or in part the same curriculum between schools after the accrediting board reviews the course work and attends for itself classes to ensure compatibility.
  • In one scene Sherman is seen sending a text message using a T-Mobile Sidekick II phone. However the signal strength icon is alternating with an 'X', which means that the phone has zero signal. Thus, the text message would never have gone through.
  • The state seal shown during the scene for the accreditation hearing is not the actual state seal of Ohio; it depicts 3 bales of hay. The state seal of Ohio is a mountain (Mount Logan) behind a plain with a river separating the two, a sun rising over the whole scene and a bale of arrows and bale of hay in the very foreground.
  • When Bartlebey and his friends receive the letter from the State of Ohio for their accreditation, the letter says their hearing is at 11:00, but when they walk into the building for accreditation they say their meeting is at 3:00
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