When you hear the words “National Lampoon” you probably think comedy, Chevy Chase and all the National Lampoon favorites you grew up with or have watched over the years. National Lampoon?s newest movie, “Van Wilder” isn?t exactly like the others, but it takes some chances and will make you laugh.

How many years have you been going to school? Do you know your major? Are your parents paying for it all while you?re still trying to decide? In “Van Wilder”, the title character, played by Ryan Reynolds, has been going to school for seven years. At the beginning of the movie his father cuts him off from his tuition and things look very low for our hero.

But Van still finds interesting ways to make tuition. He starts topless tutoring, which makes him some money, but falls through because of outside reasons. When he thinks that things can?t be any worse, he throws a party and realizes where his expertise is: party planning. Wilder has been at school for seven years and he?s the most popular, famous and revered student there; who wouldn?t want to stay? He becomes the focus of the school newspaper, which is trying to get the inside scoop on this seeming campus legend.

The journalist assigned to write the piece on Van Wilder is “American Pie” favorite Tara Reid. Reid plays Gwen, an in-depth journalist who wants to write the best article she can and is very dedicated to her work. Her boyfriend is an uptight snob in an even snobbier fraternity and thinks that they will be together forever. This will change, as Van and Gwen spend more and more time with each other, with each one rubbing off on the other.

Gwen?s boyfriend is jealous of Van and to embarrass our hero, but the tables seem to turn on him and nothing seems to faze Wilder. Some small things happen between characters within the movie that do not seem to be that important but later on pan out to mean something more. Some people that might be familiar are Curtis Armstrong, who played Booger in “Revenge of the Nerds,” or Teck Holmes from “The Real World” on MTV.

There are many things throughout the movie reminiscent other teenage movies. There is a bathroom seen that involves colon blow, dog cum in hot dogs, fire, naked women and other such gross-out that teenage movies have.

The main character is not a wild and crazy guy, but instead is the one who takes care of everyone ? the caring person that brings pills to someone who is sick, or puts on fundraisers for the swim team, or helps the un-popular seem popular. This is not the usual National Lampoon movie, but it has laughs all the way through and is enjoyable.