By: debbie lynn elias
There’s a reason that television invented the situation comedy – cute idea, possibility of a few “ha-ha’s”, concept only capable of holding the attention of an audience for 27 minutes (oops! 21st Century – make that 18 minutes) or at most, 80 minutes for a telemovie. And television is exactly where “Sorority Boys” belongs. But wait a minute! It was already there back in the 1970’s in the form of “Bosom Buddies”, with some small town player by the name of Tom Hanks starring as Kip/Buffy, and his sidekick, Peter Scolari as Henry/Hildegard. TV premise – two guys in New York need a place to live. Dress as girls in order to get room and board in an all women’s apartment building. Film premise – Dave/Daisy, Doofer/Roberta and Adam/Adina get kicked out of the Kappa Omicron Kappa (KOK) fraternity house and need a place to live. Dress up as girls (butt ugly ones at that – think Ray Walston with coconuts in “South Pacific”) in order to get room and board at the Delta Omicron Gamma (DOG) sorority house. And yes, in case you didn’t figure it out, there’s a reason the screenwriters chose “KOK” and “DOG” as the house names.
Framed by the frat house president for embezzling KOK party funds, our heroes/heroines decide the only way to clear their names and get back to the luxurious land of the college living (which of course includes all that important “guy” stuff like women, sex, alcohol, dirty bathrooms, did we say sex?, pizza, beer, belching, passing out, etc.) is to infiltrate KOK and steal a videotape which will clear their names. A videotape? Come on! This is college. These are guys. Hidden video cameras capturing illicit sexual encounters is the norm! And if that camera just happens to catch a thief, then all the better.
Written by Joe Jarvis and Greg Coolidge in their first stab at the big screen, although weak, “Sorority Boys” is not a total dud. Making the most of this unusual, and unfortunately, unimaginative concept, they do keep you laughing with one comic scene after another. They do well with picking select issues which are the bane of a woman’s existence (weight, height, butt size, body hair, intelligence, rejection, mockery, matching shoes and handbags) and using gender reversal to put some new spins on these well-worn subjects. The problem, however, lies with the fact that there is a total lack of continuity leaving you with a “huh?” look on your face for a good part of the film. Sure there’s funny stuff, but the attempts to tell a complete story fall short as some of the pieces just don’t fit together. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle – one where you took the pieces of five puzzles and threw them together trying to force them to fit. It doesn’t work.
Barry Watson, Harland Williams and Michael Rosenbaum as Dave, Doofer and Adam are some of the saving graces in the film. They clearly are not afraid to look foolish in order to get the laugh and as a result, pull of some excellent comedic bits. One of the best scenes takes a look at the virtues of high heels – although they may be “passe” on campus, they nevertheless can make a pair of legs and an ass look better – and another revolves around bathroom cleanliness and what slobs women are. (Have any of you actually looked in a women’s restroom lately? Ugh!!! It makes me shudder just thinking about it.)
In only his second directorial outing, Wallace Wolodarsky does an adequate job of keeping the film fast-paced – obviously in an effort to keep the audience from trying to pay attention to the lacking storyline.
Once again we are treated to the wonderful Heather Matarazzo, here as the geeky DOG Katie with a blood curdling voice shrillness problem. Last seen in “Princess Diaries,” Matazarro has indelibly and beautifully made this type of stereotypic role her own, giving such over-the-top nerdish performances that I can’t imagine anyone looking any further than her when doing “geek casting.”
Tony Denam as a KOK “little brother” is a disgustingly perfect gigolo wannabe as he makes advances at his dressed- in- drag big brother Adam/Adina while Brad Beyer plays KOK president Spence with all the simpiness, whininess and stupidity possible (not to mention really really really bad hair). Nice little cameos by “Bosom Buddies” alumni Wendie Jo Sperber and Peter Scolari, clue you in that Jarvis and Coolidge know from whence they came.
“Sorority Boys” is no great cinematic work of art. And although it falls short of the National Lampoon type college parodies we know so well, it does have some heart and charm as it attempts to once again take a look at those tried and true philosophies about life, tolerance, acceptance, and the battle of the sexes – “don’t judge a book by is cover”, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”, everyone has feelings, not all women are skanks, not all men are morons, never wear white after Labor Day, always have your handbag match your shoes and when shaving, always shave in the same direction.
