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Thursday, March 20, 2025
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HOLLYWOOD 21 & OVER
EDITOR'S PICK
The film 21 & Over has the sensibilities of the west, but at its core, it carries sentimental messages of friendship. It`s about three friends bonding, very much akin to Abhishek Kapoora`s desi film Kai Po Che!.
There are so many similarities between the two films that revealing the
parallels would result in spoilers. Unlike Kai Po Che!, 21
& Over, the directorial debut of screenwriters Jon Lucas and Scott
Moore, is an out-an-out teen-adult comedy trailing on the lines of the hugely
popular films of the early 1980s -- Lemon Popsicle and Hot
Bubblegum.
Set in a university campus in the US, 21 & Over is a nightlong
odyssey of the three friends. It reveals what happened a day before and on Jeff
Chang`s (Justin Chon) 21st birthday.
His best friends in high school, Miller (Miles Teller) and Casey (Skylar Astin)
arrive on the campus, determined to show Jeff a good time on this landmark day
in his life, when he turns into an adult. The problem is Jeff has an important
medical school interview on the same day that has been fixed by his dominating
father (Francois Chau). And he is forewarned by his father, Be rested, be
sharp and don`t embarrass me. So Jeff decides to stay at home.
But Miller, the free spirit of the trio, won`t take no for an answer. He cajoles
Jeff with, We have come all the way to celebrate your birthday. This is
your 21st birthday. This is the day you tell the world that you have become a
man. And I`ll f**k you up with alcohol.
Jeff, not wanting to disappoint his friends agrees to go out with them and have
just one beer. But he does not stick to this resolution.
Jeff, it turns out, has an inner party animal instinct waiting to break free,
leaving him in a drunken stupor and his buddies realising they have no clue
where he lives.
What follows is debauchery at the highest point with set comedy of errors where
Miller and Casey attempt to get their old pal home, encountering outlandish
college students and getting caught up in wild escapades.
Meanwhile, along the way, the mostly-unconscious Jeff suffers from various forms
of physical exploitation and humiliation and his friends slowly begin to suspect
that he suffers from serious personal issues - and so do they, as it turns out.
Chon as the inebriated Jeff is amusing and has his moments to shine. Teller
impresses by delivering a charismatic performance that doesn`t oversell the fact
that his character`s behaviour is all a defence mechanism for fears about being
left behind by his higher-achieving friends.
Astin as Cassey is solid playing the foil to Teller. Of the rest of the cast,
Samantha Futerman as the Chinese neighbour and Russell Hodgkinson as the druggie
in Red Indian attire create a desirable impression and garner enough laughs for
their cameos.
Sarah Wright, Jonathan Keltz and Franois Chau are wasted as they don`t bring too
much to their characters.
With a few exceptionally jerky edits and grainy images, the overall flow of the
film is smooth. The directors seem to take a scattershot approach that works as
well as fails in equal measure.
It`s the light moments that keep it from being utterly uninteresting. After all,
everyone has that fond memory of being young, dumb and making fabulously bad
choices and then laughing about it the next day. The film 21 &
Over is one of those days captured on celluloid.
