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Movies / On DVD / Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj
Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj

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Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006)

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Reviews Counted:17

Fresh:1

Rotten:16

Average Rating:2.9/10

Consensus: A low-brow comedy, minus the comedy.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for pervasive crude sexual content, some nudity and language

Runtime: 1 hr 37 mins

Genre: Comedies

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... 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 jolly old England, where he is continuing his education at stuffy Camford University. At first things look bleak for Taj, despite his gleaming newfound confidence and hip makeover from his days at Coolidge College, as he is rejected by the prestigious fraternity, Fox and Hounds, and ends up boarding with a group of misfits. Driven to live up to his former mentor's good name and also to make his father proud, Taj sets out to prove his big-man-on-campus potential by unabashedly leading his outcast housemates in an attempt to defeat the wealthy elite of Camford in a range of competitions for the coveted Hastings Cup. Like its predecessor, the film is chockful of vulgar humor and sophomoric antics. Although Taj is the only character to appear from the first VAN WILDER (with the exception of Wilder's pet bulldog), many of the plot points are predictably similar. Occasionally peeking through the excessive sexual references, outrageous gags, and cringe-worthy debauchery is a laugh-out-loud film that encourages the underdog and thumbs its nose at the establishment. Much like the grandfather of all college films, ANIMAL HOUSE (1978), VAN WILDER 2: THE RISE OF TAJ examines the lighter side of higher education, pointing out that its not only about earning a diploma but also about discovering one's potential--and not forgetting to have fun along the way. [More]

Starring: Anthony Cozens, Kal Penn, Holly Davidson, Daniel Percival

Starring: Anthony Cozens, Kal Penn, Holly Davidson, Daniel Percival, Amy Steel, Steven Rathman

Director: Mort Nathan

Director: Mort Nathan
Producer: Peter Abrams, Robert L. Levy, Elie Samaha
Screenwriter: Brent Goldberg
Composer: Robert Folk
Studio: MGM/UA

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Release:

Jul 14, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Unrated
  • Full Frame - 1.33
  • Widescreen - 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital 2.0 - Spanish
  • Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround - English
  • Subtitles - English, Spanish

Additional Release Material:

  • Trailers
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Bloopers: Gag Reel

Music Video:

  • 1. "Get Steady" - Jonny Lives!
  • 2. "Heads Will Roll" - Marion Raven

Featurette:

  • 1. "Union Jack-Offs: The Making of the Rise of Taj"
  • 2. "On Set in Romania: Kal Penn Tours The Barn"

Interactive Features:

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Reviews for Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj

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1 - 17 (sorted by date)
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This is shocking only for its tepidness; except for some raunchy language, it's ready-made for basic cable.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
07/28/09
Reece Pendleton
Reece Pendleton
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Penn is capable of so much more.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
02/03/07
Randy Cordova
Randy Cordova
Arizona Republic
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Everything old is old again in this rickety extension of 2002's already rickety Van Wilder.

Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | comment Comment
12/06/06
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Lisa Schwarzbaum
Entertainment Weekly
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Taj plays like a very bad combination of Revenge of the Nerds and Harry Potter.

Full Review Source: New York Daily News | comment Comment
12/04/06
Jack Mathews
Jack Mathews
New York Daily News
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
12/04/06
Jeannette Catsoulis
Jeannette Catsoulis
New York Times
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Van Wilder 2's sense of numbing familiarity is not enhanced by director Mort Nathan's apparent unfamiliarity with the entire filmmaking process.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
12/04/06
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
Globe and Mail
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Dude, where are my laughs?

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
12/04/06
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
New York Post
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It's hard to fathom why this didn't go straight to video, or maybe even YouTube.

Full Review Source: Newark Star-Ledger | comment Comment
12/04/06
Lisa Rose
Lisa Rose
Newark Star-Ledger
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Crikey, it's enough to give even stupid comedy a bad name.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
12/04/06
Geoff Pevere
Geoff Pevere
Toronto Star
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The 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.

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
12/04/06
Dennis Harvey
Dennis Harvey
Variety
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The Rise of Taj is relatively pointless in the scheme of things, but refreshing in what it (mostly) doesn't resort to for laughs.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment 1 Comment
12/04/06
Rocco B. Colella
Rocco B. Colella
Boston Globe
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Penn, who also takes an executive producer credit here, wanders around halfheartedly attempting to make something amusing out of the limp shock-comedy antics, but it all just goes in one innuendo and out the other.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
12/01/06
Michael Rechtshaffen
Michael Rechtshaffen
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: San Francisco Chronicle | comment Comment
12/01/06
Peter Hartlaub
Peter Hartlaub
San Francisco Chronicle
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

As 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.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
12/01/06
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

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.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
12/01/06
John Monaghan
John Monaghan
Detroit Free Press
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is the sort of film that thinks calling a beer a 'libation' is a form of wit.

Full Review Source: Associated Press | comment Comment
12/01/06
Jake Coyle
Jake Coyle
Associated Press
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film's incompetence is not limited to the writing, acting and directing. There are jarring jump cuts and continuity errors, and a laugh-out-loud eyeline mishap during a supposedly intimate conversation. One keeps expecting a boom mike to peek out.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
11/30/06
Michael Ordoņa
Michael Ordoņa
Los Angeles Times
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