When I first entered the theater for National Lampoon's Van Wilder, I was a bit dismayed. It was a marathon movie night for me -- first High Crimes, then Van Wilder. So, by the time the second movie began, I was kind of tired of sitting.

Plus, I have become totally distracted by the installation of what I've nicknamed "the date couch" at Cinema 5, 116 Hiester St. So far, I've only noticed the date couch in one of the theaters, but let me tell you, that couch gets a lot of action.

Van Wilder was shown in the theater with the date couch, I just hope it didn't impair my reviewing skills.

In the film, Van Wilder (Ryan Reynolds) is a seventh-year college senior who loves college so much, and is loved by everyone in college, that he never wants to graduate. Wilder gets a rude awakening when his father refuses to pay his tuition, so in order to stay in school he must use his own fundraising techniques to pay his tuition. Tara Reid is also in the film as Gwen, the college newspaper's star reporter assigned to write an exposé on Wilder. Although there is tension between the two at first, Gwen and Wilder eventually end up learning a lot from each other.

Van Wilder was actually better than I expected. As a survival mechanism, I've learned not to expect too much from this new genre of the trashy college flick that has plagued movie theaters for the past few years. Basically the formula is gross humor, lots of bare breasts, lots of sex and drugs.

Once in a while there actually is a storyline to go along with the formula -- that is Van Wilder's saving grace -- a story. It's not the best story, but it is a story, which includes its fair share of gross humor, but it also has some wit. The screenplay was written by Brent Goldberg and David Wagner, who wrote the eight-minute short spoof titled Saving Ryan's Privates, which dominated Internet sites like Atomfilms in 1998.

Van Wilder is a good afternoon diversion; there definitely is no thinking involved.

Reynold's was fair as the charismatic Wilder. The cast is rounded out by supporting roles played by Teck Holmes, of MTV's The Real World Hawaii, as Wilder's sidekick and Tom Everett Scott as Gwen's editor.

-- Reviewed by Jenn Heinold