ACCEPTED

'''Accepted''' is a 2006 comedy motion picture about a group of high school seniors who, after being rejected from all colleges to which they had applied, create their own college.
Though it is a light comedy the film's undertone throughout is highly critical of the U.S. college system (and the college ranking system).

Contents

Synopsis

Cast

Box office

Soundtrack

Video and DVD release

Trivia

External links

Synopsis

Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) is an underachieving high-school student who uses his wits to get away with a lot of things. After being rejected by all eight universities that he applies to, he hatches a plot, along with his friends, to create his own fake college, the South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.), to make his parents believe that he was accepted.
Realizing that they will need a campus to continue the ruse, the group locates a local run-down mental hospital and proceed to acquire the lease and refurbish it. With everything remodeled, the broken down hospital now looks like a college. Despite being a fake college, they have a functional website which was inadvertently accepting applicants, and much to the dismay of Bartleby, the campus is soon brimming with new students.
With the tuition money from his students, Bartleby starts to pay for a cleaner facility, better dorm rooms, and a lot of entertainment systems, such as a half pipe for skateboard and a big pool. The students are told to do whatever they feel like doing and actually create their own class subjects. All the class subjects are written on a white board by students and classes such as "Do Nothing 101" and "The Art of Sleeping" make the cut. The entire student body just sits around and parties all day. One such party was the "S.H.I.T. Party", which was a huge party filled with dancing and music, and during this party the actual band, The Ringers, performed their song "Keepin your Head Up".
Word of this unauthorized campus soon makes its way to the Dean of the nearby (legitimate) Harmon college. Dean Van Horne appears with the state police and announces to all of the parents and students that the school is a scam. Bartleby is forced to tell the truth about South Harmon, and all the students are taken away by their parents. Disappointing his parents once again, Bartleby feels that all hope is lost. He rides his bike to the now roped-off campus and looks at the pile of mail sitting on the "school's" front stoop. He takes a second glance at a letter from the Ohio Board of Education, which he originally thinks is a summon for a hearing. He opens the letter to find out that it is actually an application for accreditation.
During the hearing, Bartleby makes a speech about following their own dreams, and not be restricted to what the school allows them to do. He claims schools like Harmon College are great but they limit the creativity of students, whereas at South Harmon, students could find their talents and set their own goals. The board agrees, and grants the South Harmon Institute of Technology a one year probation and supervision to further their way of teaching.

Cast

★ Justin Long as Bartleby "B" Gaines

★ Jonah Hill as Sherman Schrader

★ Adam Herschman as Glen

★ Maria Thayer as Rory Thayer

★ Columbus Short as Hands Holloway

★ Blake Lively as Monica Moreland

★ Mark Derwin as Mr. Jack Gaines

★ Ann Cusack as Mrs. Diane Gaines

★ Hannah Marks as Lizzie Gaines

★ Diora Baird as Kiki Dee

★ Robin Taylor as Abernathy Darwin Dunlap

★ Jeremy Howard as Freaky Student

★ Joe Hursley as Maurice

★ Lewis Black as Dean Ben Lewis

★ Travis Van Winkle as Hoyt Ambrose

★ Kaitlin Doubleday as Gwynn

★ Anthony Heald as Dean Richard Van Horne

★ Ned Schmidtke as Dr. J. Alexander

★ Rebecca Parisi as Yoga Student

★ Dustin Whitson as Student

Box office

★ On opening weekend it made an estimated $10,023,835 in the USA and Canada.

★ As of October 19, 2006, the movie has gained an estimated $36,323,505 in the USA and Canada.[1]

Soundtrack

★ "U-Mass" by Pixies

★ "Gravity Rides Everything" by Modest Mouse

★ "The Hives - Declare Guerre Nucleaire" by The Hives

★ "Bole 2 Harlem" by Bole 2 Harlem

★ "Eleanor Rigby" by David Schommer featuring David Jensen (originally by The Beatles)

★ "TKO" by Le Tigre

★ "Where Do I Begin" by The Chemical Brothers feat. Beth Orton

★ "Sherman's Way" by David Schommer

★ "Keepin' Your Head Up" by The Ringers

★ "Don't You Forget About Me" by David Schommer

★ "Holiday" by weezer

★ "Let The Drummer Kick" by Citizen Cope

★ "To Be Young (Is to Be Sad, is to Be High)" by Ryan Adams

★ "You Think We Suck" by Ape Fight
Other songs not included on the soundtrack:

★ "Close to Me" by The Cure plays in Bartleby Gaines room whenever the disco ball comes down

★ "Holiday" by Green Day. There has been some confusion over the fact that Weezer and Green Day each have a song by the title "Holiday" in the movie, but only the Weezer song is on the official soundtrack.

★ "Everything is Alright" by Motion City Soundtrack plays during the DVD commercial.

★ "Blitzkrieg Bop" is played at a party held at South Harmon, and Bartleby sings the majority of it on stage. The DVD also featured a music video of the song featuring the casts and crew.

Video and DVD release

The movie was released on VHS and DVD on November 14, 2006, in both Widescreen and Fullscreen.
The DVD includes: "Adam's 'Accepted' Chronicles"; "Reject Rejection: The Making Of 'Accepted'"; Self-Guided Campus Tour; "Hangin' On The Half Pipe" Music Video; "Keepin' Your Head Up" - The Ringers Music Video; Feature Commentary with Director Steve Pink, Justin Long, Lewis Black, Jonah Hill and Adam Herschman, Audio Commentary, Deleted Scenes, Featurette, Gag Reel, Music Videos
and the HD-DVD:
Side A - High Definition: All Standard Definition Features plus - Picture in Picture Commentary with Director Steve Pink, Justin Long, Lewis Black, Jonah Hill and Adam Herschman; Production Photographs
Side B - Standard Definition: "Adam's 'Accepted' Chronicles"; "Reject Rejection: The Making Of 'Accepted'"; Self-Guided Campus Tour; "Hangin' On The Half Pipe" Music Video; "Keepin' Your Head Up" - The Ringers Music Video; Feature Commentary with Director Steve Pink, Justin Long, Lewis Black, Jonah Hill and Adam Herschman

Trivia

★ The plot is similar to the 1994 film ''Camp Nowhere'', except that ''Camp Nowhere'' is about a summer camp. Also, in that film, near the end Christopher Lloyd's character jokingly mentioned using the same scheme for college.

★ The film has two similarities to ''The Breakfast Club''. Like Brian in "The Breakfast Club," Bartleby's sister wants a fake I.D. in order to vote. Also, the song ''Don't You (Forget About Me)'' appears in both films.

★ ''The Simpsons'' used the S.H.I.T. joke over a decade before this movie, with the Springfield Heights Institute of Technology; as did students at Rochester Institute of Technology once it moved from downtown Rochester to South Henrietta (a suburb) in 1968.

★ The Harmon campus was shot at the Chapman University campus in Orange, CA.

★ Harmon is based on Hiram College in Hiram, OH. This is noticeable in several places, notably that the film is set in Ohio and a reference is made to James A. Garfield attending Harmon. James Garfield not only attended Hiram (then the Western Reserve Eclectic Institute), but became a teacher and later the president of the college.

★ The Japanese movie ''Battle Royale'' is referenced. When Bartleby asks Glen what to do with the large influx of students, Glen replies, "Battle Royale!" That movie's plot concerns schoolchildren sent by the Japanese government to fight to the death on a deserted island.

★ The phrase "a little can-do attitude and some elbow grease" was taken from '', a movie Justin Long was also featured in.

★ With 62 "shits", this film had more occurrences of the word than any other PG-13 film. However, 1 out of the 2 uses of "fuck" was censored in order to maintain the PG-13 rating.

★ Ben Lewis' last name is a reference to the actor who portrays him, Lewis Black.

★ The S.H.I.T. Sandwich mascot is played by Justin Long's brother, Christian Long.

★ The home address of the main character's family, the Gaines', is 3507 E. 47th Place, Wickliffe, OH 44092. The city is not fictional (see Wickliffe, Ohio), however the address is.

★ In the film, Long makes a reference to Charles Guiteau, who assassinated James Garfield. Coincidentally, Long's brother Damian portrayed Guiteau in a production of the Sondheim musical Assassins.

External links

★ Official movie site

★ The Ringers - Featured Movie Band Site

★ Accepted at the Internet Movie Database.

★

★

★