Accepted

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Accepted
Film poster
Directed by	Steve Pink
Produced by	Michael Bostick
Written by	Adam Cooper Bill Collage Mark Perez
Starring	Justin Long Jonah Hill Blake Lively Anthony Heald Lewis Black Travis Van Winkle
Music by	David Schommer
Cinematography	Matthew F. Leonetti
Distributed by	Universal Studios
Release date(s)	August 18, 2006
Running time	92 min.
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$23 million
Gross revenue	$38,505,009

Accepted is a 2006 comedy film centered around would-be college freshmen, who after being rejected from all the colleges and universities to which they had applied, proceed to "create" their own "college".

Though presented as a light comedy, the film's dramatic undertone throughout is highly critical of the United States college system and the college ranking system.

Unlike most PG-13 films, Accepted has frequent use of the word shit - 62 times.^[1] The term is frequently referred to as the acronym of South Harmon Institute of Technology (S.H.I.T.). It is one of few theatrically released films to bleep out a word - in this case the word "Fuck" is bleeped out on its second usage, presumably to avoid an "R" rating for language.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Reception 4 Home release 5 Soundtrack 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Plot

Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) is a persuasive high-school senior who, among other pranks, creates fake ID's. His gifts do not extend to grades, however, and he receives rejection letters from all of the universities and colleges he applied to. In an attempt to seek approval from his strict father (Mark Derwin), Bartleby creates a fake college, the South Harmon Institute of Technology. He is aided by his friend Sherman Schrader III (Jonah Hill), who has been accepted into the prestigious Harmon College, and fellow rejects Rory (from Yale University) (Maria Thayer), Glen (Adam Herschman) and Hands (Columbus Short).

To make the "college" seem legitimate, Bartleby convinces his best friend Sherman create a fully-functional website. Arriving at the conclusion that a campus is required to continue the ruse, Bartleby leases an abandoned psychiatric hospital adjacent to the campus of Harmon College and renovates it to look like a college campus. When his father insists on meeting the Dean, he hires Schrader's uncle, Ben Lewis (Lewis Black), to play that role.

The seemingly innocent ploy quickly spins out of control when the website, which automatically accepts any applicant, enrolls hundreds of other rejected students. Bartleby realizes that these people have nowhere else to go, so lets them believe that the school is real. After a visit to Harmon disenchants him with traditional college life, he has the students make up their own classes and be their own teachers. A giant whiteboard is put up in which students write down what they want to learn.

Meanwhile, the Dean of the nearby Harmon College, Richard Van Horne (Anthony Heald), makes plans to construct the Van Horne Gateway, an adjacent park-like "verdant buffer zone to keep knowledge in--and ignorance out." He dispatches Hoyt Ambrose (Travis Van Winkle) to free up the nearby properties in preparation. When Bartleby refuses to relinquish the lease for the South Harmon Institute of Technology property, Hoyt sets to work trying to reveal the college as a fake. In a sub-plot, Bartleby also vies with Hoyt for the affections of Harmon College student — and Hoyt's girlfriend — Monica (Blake Lively).

Hoyt exposes South Harmon Institute of Technology as a fake school through Sherman, who is attempting to join his fraternity. After having Sherman beaten up, Hoyt forces him to hand over all the files he has created for the Institute. He then contacts all the students' parents to expose the school as a fake. The Institute is quickly shut down, but Sherman had taken the initiative to file for accreditation beforehand, giving Bartleby a chance to make his school legitimate.

At the State of Ohio educational accreditation hearing, Bartleby makes an impassioned speech about the failures of conventional education, convincing the board to grant his school a one-year probation to test his new system. The Institute is started up once again, with Sherman and Monica now attending.

[edit] Cast

Actor	Role
Justin Long	Bartleby Gaines
Jonah Hill	Sherman Schrader
Blake Lively	Monica Moreland
Lewis Black	Ben Lewis
Maria Thayer	Rory Thayer
Adam Herschman	Glen
Columbus Short	Darryl "Hands" Holloway
Anthony Heald	Dean Richard Van Horne
Travis Van Winkle	Hoyt Ambrose
Mark Derwin	Jack Gaines
Ann Cusack	Diane Gaines
Hannah Marks	Lizzie Gaines
Diora Baird	Kiki
Joe Hursley	Maurice
Jeremy Howard	Freaky student
Robin Lord Taylor	Abernathy Darwin Dunlap
Kaitlin Doubleday	Gwynn
Kellan Lutz	Dwayne
Brendan Miller	Wayne
Artie Baxter	Mike Chambers
Ross Patterson	Mike McNaughton
Sam Horrigan	Mike Welsh
Ned Schmidtke	Dr. J. Alexander

[edit] Reception

Accepted was released to mostly negative reviews with an average score of 36 from Rotten Tomatoes^[2]. It received 3 out of 5 stars from Allmovie^[3] and a 47 from Metacritic^[4]. Despite the negative reviews, the film made an estimated $10,023,835 during its opening and $36,323,505 by its time of closing on October 19, 2006^[5].

[edit] Home release

The movie was released on VHS and DVD on November 14, 2006, in both widescreen and fullscreen.

[edit] 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 (Originally by Simple Minds)
• "Holiday" by Weezer^[6]
• "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's 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.
• "Blitzkrieg Bop" by The Ramones is played at a party held at South Harmon, and Bartleby sings the majority of it on stage. The DVD also features a music video of the song featuring the cast and crew.
• "Blitzkrieg Bop" by Justin Long with The Ringers
• "Don't Stop" by Fleetwood Mac is played during the high school graduation party.
• "I'm Better" by Scott Thomas
• "Sweet Confusion" by Divine Right (band)
• "Spotlight" by The Ringers
• "Walkin' the Walk" by The Daniel May Quartet
• "String Quartet in G, Opus 18" by FLUX Quartet

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Accepted

• Official website
• Accepted at the Internet Movie Database
• Accepted at Rotten Tomatoes
• Accepted at Allmovie
• Accepted at Metacritic
• Accepted at Box Office Mojo

Preceded by You, Me and Dupree

Box office number-one films of 2006 (UK) September 10, 2006

Succeeded by Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby