Van Wilder 2's sense of numbing familiarity is not enhanced by director Mort Nathan's apparent unfamiliarity with the entire filmmaking process.
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12/04/06
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Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006)
7
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Reviews Counted:42
Fresh:3
Rotten:39
Average Rating:2.7/10
Consensus: A low-brow comedy, minus the comedy.
Theatrical Release:Dec 1, 2006 Wide
Box Office: $3,833,762
Synopsis: The legacy of perpetual college party-man Van Wilder lives on in NATIONAL LAMPOON'S VAN WILDER 2: THE RISE OF TAJ, as his former apprentice Taj Mahal Badalandabad (Kal Penn) takes the torch to... [More]
Starring: Anthony Cozens, Kal Penn, Holly Davidson, Daniel Percival
Director: Mort Nathan
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Reviews for Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj
Top CriticScrew Tara Reid! Who needs her in this movie. We've got a cockney girl with huge knockers.
04/13/07
Britain and India face off in National Lampoon's Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj, a strained attempt to transplant the American campus comedy to more uptight shores.
12/04/06
Top CriticIll-conceived.
12/04/06
The Rise of Taj is relatively pointless in the scheme of things, but refreshing in what it (mostly) doesn't resort to for laughs.
12/04/06
Top CriticPenn is capable of so much more.
02/03/07
Top CriticAs the nerd sidekick to campus wildman Ryan Reynolds in the original film, Penn projected a geeky charm, but he's not equipped to play the lead in a well-constructed movie, let alone salvage this stunningly mediocre chain of skits.
12/01/06
Top CriticThis is the sort of film that thinks calling a beer a 'libation' is a form of wit.
12/01/06
Top CriticNational Lampoon recycles countless collegiate comedies for this spin-off sequel.
02/03/07
As the movie itself is only occasionally entertaining, I invented my own competition: picking scenes from other movies that the Van Wilder 2 screenwriters ripped off because they didn't have any of their own ideas.
12/01/06
Top CriticThe four-years-in-the-making, badly recycled (not to mention awful) sequel might stain the honor of the Lampoon label if it hadn't already produced several even worse films.
12/04/06
Top CriticPenn isn't quite as charming here as he was in Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, but he has a lot less to work with.
12/01/06
Before a schmaltzy, earnest ending, Taj manages to score with exactly one decent joke. It's about British colonialism, it's in the trailer and you can see it on the Internet for free.
12/04/06
Defines pedestrian filmmaking on every conceivable level, yet this embracement of mediocrity lends a surprising amount of legitimacy to its juvenile subject matter.
12/02/06
Some movies are Hollywood's version of littering: Like half-eaten pizzas or rancid burgers, these flicks are tossed aside to rot in empty cinemas.
12/04/06
...original star Ryan Reynolds wisely took a pass on coming back for more...
12/10/06
Taj plays like a very bad combination of Revenge of the Nerds and Harry Potter.
12/04/06
Top CriticThe laughs are low, the breasts are high, and the film is instantly forgettable.
12/01/06
In this sequel to the 2002 campus comedy, Kal Penn spends much of the running time acting like Wilder I star Ryan Reynolds, which no actor with half a brain should be doing.
12/01/06
Top CriticThe Rise of Taj never rises to the level of time-killer.
12/01/06
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