Like a batch of dorm-brewed punch, the effects of sexual-identity politics on young collegians will always be painful but fertile ground for laughs.
It’s a minefield the indie comedy “Freshman Orientation” gamely traverses, serving up a gay/straight mixer of horn-dog humor, Greek cruelty, mistaken identity and late-in-the-game sensitivity that has bursts of spirit, but too often feels more like a tapped-out keg than a provocative romp.
Far from his dull Midwestern background and loving it, Clay (Sam Huntington) rolls into university life as a badboy wannabe ready to indulge in what he sees as a “campus ho-asis” of female promiscuity. Too bad his perfect target – insecure blond cutie Amanda (Kaitlin Doubleday) – thinks he’s gay after he’s caught in a public bit of pledge-week hazing. But when he finds that her sorority requires her to woo a gay student to be her date for a party – not knowing it’s a prank aimed at humiliating campus outcasts – Clay takes the Billy Wilder-esque bait of pretending to be something he’s not, in the hopes that he can go from girlfriend status to a new-convert success story.
Despite a first-act portrayal of college as an interpersonal hell so lacking in appeal – everyone’s either mean or snivelingly needy, and nobody’s funny – that it nearly sinks the movie outright, first-time writer-director Ryan Shiraki finds surer footing depicting Clay’s undercover immersion into playing gay and its positive effect on his personality. Though it’s patently schematic – involving the de rigueur image makeover and flashcard drills (Tom of Finland! Alexander the Great!) – it at least kick-starts the narrative and enables Huntington and Doubleday to make an impact as a couple drawn to each other but stymied by outside pressures and inside deceptions.
Ultimately Shiraki’s ambition gets the better of him when he tries to detonate his identity themes into a farcical campuswide skirmish between the Greeks and radicals: Tone is the real casualty. But there’s enough here to suggest that Shiraki is more thoughtful than his woeful reliance on stereotypes – behold, militantly angry lesbians and super-drunk chicks! – and cynical crassness better suited to a “Will & Grace” episode.
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“Freshman Orientation”
R for strong sexual content, language and some drug use | 1 hour, 31 minutes | COMEDY | Written and directed by Ryan Shiraki; photography by Amy Vincent; starring Sam Huntington, Marla Sokoloff, Mike Erwin, Heather Matarazzo | Opens today at area theaters.
