In an early scene, an assault victim reports a campus crime to the police, a bit belatedly, causing the investigating cop to question the victim’s pre-assault actions as complicity. It’s a teenage boy (Ben Schnetzer), beaten up for his ATM card by two hoods he had given a ride to, just to be a cool bro. In a later scene, a recent graduate (James Franco) walks past his old fraternity house, where he had been a legendary “wild man,” and he hangs around “just for one beer … I got a wife and a kid now;’ an evening montage later, he’s passed out on the couch. Those two scenes manage to be insightful about fraternity culture and such broader matters as shame and Peter Pan-ism. The rest is a screed about killer weed/frats that’s too well-wrapped in its cloak of righteousness to see that it’s just a one-note
Reefer Madness-level jeremiad. Schnetzer overcompensates by joining the fraternity of his big biological bro (well-known Jonas Bro, Nick). Sins are committed, someone sees the light and repents. Hallelujah! TELL YOUR CHILDREN: Just say no to frats.
By
Victor Morton