Lee, Green fail to steal movie-watchers praise
Lack of plot and physical comedy leaves this reviewer not pleased with “Stealing Harvard,” starring Jason Lee and Tom Green
By Taylor Gibbons
Skiff Staff

The basic premise for “Stealing Harvard” goes like this: John the loving uncle (Jason Lee) discovers that Noreen, the sunny and gifted yet tragically disadvantaged niece (Tammy Blanchard), has been accepted by Harvard University and is now seeking some much-needed monetary assistance, as promised by John in a long-forgotten (but unfortunately for him, videotaped) pep talk.

John doesn’t have that kind of money, so he turns to Duff, the incorrigible idiot of a best friend (Tom Green), who — surprise — proceeds to formulate a series of silly money-making schemes — all of which involve some form of theft, hence the title of the movie.

Before the movie is over, John and Duff find themselves harassed by police, a suspicious father-in-law, a gun-toting liquor store clerk and an incredibly horny dog.

It’s worth noting that this movie deals greatly with its characters asking more of life and expects its viewers to ask so little of it. “Stealing Harvard” is a mediocre movie which, considering some of the talent behind it, could have been a whole lot better. Fans of Canadian comedy troupe the Kids in Hall will wonder at how a movie directed by and featuring Bruce McCulloch could be so conspicuously devoid of any of the risk-taking and hilarious humor the group was known for.

Similarly, fans of Kevin Smith’s movies will likely be a little put off by Jason Lee’s flat, forgettable turn as the hapless nice guy, a role that seems even weaker when you stand it next to the clever, charming characters Lee has played for Smith and various other directors.

Perhaps surprisingly, most of the film’s laughs come from Tom Green, who has a track record of being more gratingly annoying than funny. However, in this case he’s done away with the excessive licking (although he does manage to work in a little tongue play) and repeating of words ad nauseam, rather opting for a steady regiment of solid physical comedy and random acts of weirdness that work fairly well.

The supporting cast does a competent, if not particularly compelling job of playing off of the main characters, particularly Megan Mullally, who plays John’s sister Patty like a trailer park version of her character Karen from TV’s “Will and Grace.”

“Stealing Harvard,” like most movies of its caste, doesn’t offer much in the way of storyline. Most of its subplots are storybook simple and serve only as a springboard for a string of hit-and-miss gags. Subplots include John’s conflicts with an overbearing stepfather (Richard Jenkins) and a constant pursuit by an anal-retentive police detective (John C. McGinley).

Some of the movie’s greatest missteps are its blundering attempts at sentiment and its doling out of hokey platitudes. This isn’t the type of movie that benefits from any sort of drama, especially not the roughly 30 minutes of wasted screen time “Stealing Harvard” offers.

Is “Stealing Harvard” worth seeing? Maybe. If you go in with the appropriate set of expectations, it can be a reasonably amusing two hours. However if you’re looking for a sophomoric comedy that’ll really rock your funny bone, you’re probably better off just renting “Dumb and Dumber” or some early Adam Sandler.