Get the Double Secret Probabation Edition. The mockumentary on it is a great enhancement.

Can't be beat for brainless fun. Pure sophmoric comedy.

Does it have flaws? Yes! Does it bring back memories of the good old days? Did it establish a genre (for better or for worse?) Yes!

I love the scene with Flounder and the Horse in Dean Wormer's office. There were blanks in that gun. Holy sh*t!

Knowledge is Good. Just a classic movie with too many funny parts to mention. But to quote my ex: it's such a guy's movie.

Even the late,great John Belushi couldn't quite rescue this one.

To slightly correct VirileVagabond's excellent review, National Lampoon's Animal House actually debuted in 1978. I estimate I have viewed the movie a dozen times and still find it refreshing and spit-my-drink out hilarious. It's so much more than just a gross-out comedy, it provides the viewers with a spectrum of mirth. There's your standard grossness (I'm a zit.), slapstick (Bluto smashing the folk singer's guitar, handing it back and saying, Sorry.), Wit (Double Secret Probation, They can't do that to our pledges; only we can do that to our pledges). One web site posted at least 500 Animal House quotes that are part of mainstream jargon. To this day, I still say to strangers, Damn glad to meet you. The scene where the guys and their dates go into the nightclub Mind if we dance with Yo dates still makes me crack up when I think of it. The music is great, the characters are great, the acting (particularly John Belushi) is great, and the story is great. Next to Rocky, Animal House is my favorite movie of all time.

Released in 1980 and directed by John Landis, National Lampoon's Animal House has become the standard college film against which all sophomoric comedies are measured. There is no real plot, as the film simply takes us through the madcap adventures of the Delta Fraternity House at Faber College in 1962. The Delta's are essentially a group of slack professional students, drunks, and general underachievers, namely John Bluto Blutarsky (John Belushi), Eric Otter Stratton (Tim Matheson), et al. Unfortunately, Dean Vernon Wormer (John Vernon) is not a fan of the Deltas, places the fraternity on double secret probation, and entices the rival, straight-laced Omegas to help him get Delta's charter revoked. This movie breathed new life into the fraternity concept, not to mention food fights and toga parties. While many critics concentrate on John Belushi's performance, this film was successful largely due to Tim Matheson's portrayal of the smooth, ladies' man Otter and the use of music from the early 1960's. The bottom line is that National Lampoon's Animal House is great comedy for its non-cerebral humor and remains a common viewing experience for a generation. Nevertheless, I am not sold on Animal House being a cult film on par with many of the others on this list (eg Rocky Horror).

a classic movie