College Films
by JoshE117 | created - 25 Dec 2015 | updated - 27 Jan 2020 | PublicA list of films that focus on the college years. Nine of these movies feature Harvard in some way and a great deal of the rest take place/were shot at schools in California.
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1. 21 (2008)
PG-13 | 123 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Inspired by real events and people, 21 is about six MIT students who become trained to be experts in card counting in Black Jack and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings.
Director: Robert Luketic | Stars: Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Aaron Yoo
Votes: 266,435 | Gross: $81.16M
2. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
PG-13 | 135 min | Biography, Drama, Mystery
A mathematical genius, John Nash made an astonishing discovery early in his career and stood on the brink of international acclaim. But the handsome and arrogant Nash soon found himself on a harrowing journey of self-discovery.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Russell Crowe, Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer
Votes: 986,561 | Gross: $170.74M
3. Accepted (2006)
PG-13 | 93 min | Comedy
A high school slacker who's rejected by every school he applies to opts to create his own institution of higher learning, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, on a rundown piece of property near his hometown.
Director: Steve Pink | Stars: Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Blake Lively, Adam Herschman
Votes: 139,984 | Gross: $36.32M
4. American Pie 2 (2001)
R | 108 min | Comedy
Jim and his friends are now in college, and they decide to meet up at the beach house for some fun.
Director: J.B. Rogers | Stars: Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Shannon Elizabeth, Alyson Hannigan
Votes: 270,058 | Gross: $145.10M
5. American Pie Presents: Beta House (2007 Video)
R | 85 min | Comedy
Erik and Cooze start college and pledge the Beta House fraternity, presided over by none other than legendary Dwight Stifler.
Director: Andrew Waller | Stars: John White, Christopher McDonald, Jake Siegel, Lexie Galante
Votes: 67,740
6. American Pie Presents: The Naked Mile (2006 Video)
R | 97 min | Comedy
A high school virgin, who is eager to have sex, gets a guilt free pass from his girlfriend to lose his virginity while attending college parties for a whole weekend.
Director: Joe Nussbaum | Stars: John White, Eugene Levy, Maria Ricossa, Christopher McDonald
Votes: 74,117
7. An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000 Video)
G | 79 min | Animation, Comedy, Family
Max goes to college, but to his embarassment his father loses his job and goes to his son's campus.
Director: Douglas McCarthy | Stars: Bill Farmer, Jason Marsden, Jeff Bennett, Jim Cummings
Votes: 14,520
8. Back to School (1986)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Romance, Sport
To help his discouraged son get through college, a funloving and obnoxious rich businessman decides to enter the school as a student himself.
Director: Alan Metter | Stars: Rodney Dangerfield, Sally Kellerman, Burt Young, Keith Gordon
Votes: 36,169 | Gross: $91.26M
9. Drumline (2002)
PG-13 | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A band director recruits a Harlem street drummer to play at a Southern university.
Director: Charles Stone III | Stars: Nick Cannon, Zoe Saldana, Orlando Jones, Leonard Roberts
Votes: 36,040 | Gross: $56.40M
10. Good Will Hunting (1997)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance
Will Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.
Director: Gus Van Sant | Stars: Robin Williams, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Stellan Skarsgård
Votes: 1,067,277 | Gross: $138.43M
11. Harvard Man (2001)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
A basketball player strikes a deal with the mob to fix a basketball game.
Director: James Toback | Stars: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Adrian Grenier, Joey Lauren Adams, Eric Stoltz
Votes: 4,583 | Gross: $0.06M
12. Higher Learning (1995)
R | 128 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
People from all different walks of life, encounter racial tension, rape, responsibility, and the meaning of an education on a university campus.
Director: John Singleton | Stars: Omar Epps, Kristy Swanson, Michael Rapaport, Jennifer Connelly
Votes: 21,541 | Gross: $38.29M
13. The House Bunny (2008)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy
After Playboy bunny Shelley is kicked out of the Playboy Mansion, she finds a job as the house mother for a sorority full of socially awkward girls.
Director: Fred Wolf | Stars: Anna Faris, Colin Hanks, Emma Stone, Kat Dennings
Votes: 90,285 | Gross: $48.24M
14. Kill Your Darlings (2013)
R | 104 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.
Director: John Krokidas | Stars: Daniel Radcliffe, Dane DeHaan, Michael C. Hall, Ben Foster
Votes: 41,224 | Gross: $1.03M
15. Legally Blonde (2001)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Romance
Elle Woods, a fashionable sorority queen, is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school. While she is there, she figures out that there is more to her than just looks.
Director: Robert Luketic | Stars: Reese Witherspoon, Luke Wilson, Selma Blair, Matthew Davis
Votes: 247,966 | Gross: $96.52M
16. Liberal Arts (2012)
PG-13 | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
When 30-something Jesse returns to his alma mater for a professor's retirement party, he falls for Zibby, a college student, and is faced with a powerful attraction that springs up between them.
Director: Josh Radnor | Stars: Josh Radnor, Elizabeth Olsen, Zac Efron, Elizabeth Reaser
Votes: 40,278 | Gross: $0.32M
17. Like Crazy (2011)
PG-13 | 86 min | Drama, Romance
A British college student falls for an American student, only to be separated from him when she's banned from the U.S. after overstaying her visa.
Director: Drake Doremus | Stars: Felicity Jones, Anton Yelchin, Jennifer Lawrence, Charlie Bewley
Votes: 63,292 | Gross: $3.41M
18. Love & Basketball (2000)
PG-13 | 124 min | Drama, Romance, Sport
Monica and Quincy love and play basketball together through many life challenges from childhood to adulthood.
Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood | Stars: Sanaa Lathan, Omar Epps, Glenndon Chatman, Jess Willard
Votes: 24,292 | Gross: $27.44M
19. Monsters University (2013)
G | 104 min | Animation, Adventure, Comedy
A look at the relationship between Mike Wazowski and James P. "Sully" Sullivan during their days at Monsters University, when they weren't necessarily the best of friends.
Director: Dan Scanlon | Stars: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Helen Mirren
Votes: 389,817 | Gross: $268.49M
20. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
R | 109 min | Comedy
At a 1962 college, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.
Director: John Landis | Stars: John Belushi, Karen Allen, Tom Hulce, Stephen Furst
Votes: 129,290
21. National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002)
R | 92 min | Comedy, Romance
The most popular kid on campus meets a beautiful journalist who makes him realize that maybe he's afraid to graduate.
Director: Walt Becker | Stars: Ryan Reynolds, Tara Reid, Tim Matheson, Kal Penn
Votes: 115,305 | Gross: $21.01M
22. Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj (2006)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Romance
Taj Mahal Badalandabad leaves Coolidge College behind for the halls of Camford University in England, where he looks to continue his education, and teach an uptight student how to make the most out of her academic career.
Director: Mort Nathan | Stars: Kal Penn, Lauren Cohan, Daniel Percival, Glen Barry
Votes: 23,990 | Gross: $4.26M
23. Old School (2003)
R | 88 min | Comedy
Three friends attempt to recapture their glory days by opening up a fraternity near their alma mater.
Director: Todd Phillips | Stars: Luke Wilson, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Jeremy Piven
Votes: 243,286 | Gross: $75.59M
24. Orange County (2002)
PG-13 | 82 min | Comedy, Drama
A guidance counselor mistakenly sends out the wrong transcripts to Stanford University under the name of an over-achieving high schooler.
Director: Jake Kasdan | Stars: Colin Hanks, Jack Black, Schuyler Fisk, Bret Harrison
Votes: 51,928 | Gross: $41.03M
25. PCU (1994)
PG-13 | 79 min | Comedy
A high school senior visits college for the weekend, and stays at the wildest house on campus.
Director: Hart Bochner | Stars: Jeremy Piven, Chris Young, Megan Ward, Jon Favreau
Votes: 14,490 | Gross: $4.35M
26. Pitch Perfect (2012)
PG-13 | 112 min | Comedy, Music, Romance
Beca, a freshman at Barden University, is cajoled into joining The Bellas, her school's all-girls singing group. Injecting some much needed energy into their repertoire, The Bellas take on their male rivals in a campus competition.
Director: Jason Moore | Stars: Anna Kendrick, Brittany Snow, Rebel Wilson, Anna Camp
Votes: 330,598 | Gross: $65.00M
27. P.S. (2004)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
An unfulfilled divorced woman gets the chance to relive her past when she meets a young man who appears to be her high school sweetheart who died many years before.
Director: Dylan Kidd | Stars: Laura Linney, Topher Grace, Marcia Gay Harden, Gabriel Byrne
Votes: 6,547 | Gross: $0.18M
28. Revenge of the Nerds (1984)
R | 90 min | Comedy
At Adams College, a group of bullied outcasts and misfits resolve to fight back for their peace and self-respect.
Director: Jeff Kanew | Stars: Robert Carradine, Anthony Edwards, Timothy Busfield, Andrew Cassese
Votes: 58,357 | Gross: $40.90M
29. Rudy (1993)
PG | 114 min | Biography, Drama, Sport
Rudy has always been told that he was too small to play college football. But he is determined to overcome the odds and fulfill his dream of playing for Notre Dame.
Director: David Anspaugh | Stars: Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty, Greta Lind
Votes: 69,051 | Gross: $22.75M
30. School Daze (1988)
R | 121 min | Comedy, Drama, Musical
A not so popular young man wants to pledge to a popular fraternity at his historically black college.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Giancarlo Esposito, Tisha Campbell, Kyme
Votes: 8,030 | Gross: $14.55M
31. Slackers (2002)
R | 86 min | Comedy, Romance
When geeky Ethan discovers three fellow students scamming the examination system, he blackmails them to win over the college's most popular girl.
Director: Dewey Nicks | Stars: Devon Sawa, Robert B. Martin Jr., Jason Segel, Michael C. Maronna
Votes: 15,229 | Gross: $4.81M
32. Smart People (2008)
R | 95 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Into the life of a widowed professor comes a new love and an unexpected visit from his adopted brother.
Director: Noam Murro | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Thomas Haden Church, Sarah Jessica Parker, Elliot Page
Votes: 23,483 | Gross: $9.50M
33. Stealing Harvard (2002)
PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
A middle-class man turns to a life of crime in order to finance his niece's first year at Harvard University.
Director: Bruce McCulloch | Stars: Jason Lee, Tom Green, Leslie Mann, Megan Mullally
Votes: 13,720 | Gross: $13.97M
34. St. Elmo's Fire (1985)
R | 110 min | Drama, Romance
A group of friends, just out of college, struggle with adulthood.
Director: Joel Schumacher | Stars: Demi Moore, Rob Lowe, Andrew McCarthy, Emilio Estevez
Votes: 46,367 | Gross: $37.80M
35. The Freshman (1990)
PG | 102 min | Comedy, Crime
An N.Y.C. film school student accepts a job with a local mobster who resembles a famous cinema godfather and who takes the young man under his wing, after demanding total loyalty.
Director: Andrew Bergman | Stars: Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby, Penelope Ann Miller
Votes: 22,024 | Gross: $21.46M
36. The Graduate (1967)
PG | 106 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
Director: Mike Nichols | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Anne Bancroft, Katharine Ross, William Daniels
Votes: 288,301 | Gross: $104.95M
37. The Great Debaters (2007)
PG-13 | 126 min | Biography, Drama, Romance
A drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.
Director: Denzel Washington | Stars: Denzel Washington, Forest Whitaker, Kimberly Elise, Nate Parker
Votes: 62,843 | Gross: $30.23M
38. The Nutty Professor (1996)
PG-13 | 95 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
Grossly overweight yet good-hearted professor Sherman Klump takes a special chemical that turns him into the slim but obnoxious Buddy Love.
Director: Tom Shadyac | Stars: Eddie Murphy, Jada Pinkett Smith, James Coburn, Larry Miller
Votes: 123,637 | Gross: $128.81M
39. The Paper Chase (1973)
PG | 113 min | Comedy, Drama
A first-year law student at Harvard Law School struggles with balancing his coursework and a woman, unaware that she has a connection that affects their relationship.
Director: James Bridges | Stars: Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner, John Houseman, Graham Beckel
Votes: 8,684 | Gross: $1.85M
40. The Social Network (2010)
PG-13 | 120 min | Biography, Drama
As Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg creates the social networking site that would become known as Facebook, he is sued by the twins who claimed he stole their idea and by the co-founder who was later squeezed out of the business.
Director: David Fincher | Stars: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Rooney Mara
Votes: 758,321 | Gross: $96.96M
41. The Waterboy (1998)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy, Sport
A waterboy for a college football team discovers he has a unique tackling ability and becomes a member of the team.
Director: Frank Coraci | Stars: Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Henry Winkler, Fairuza Balk
Votes: 178,290 | Gross: $161.49M
42. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
PG-13 | 149 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Sam Witwicky leaves the Autobots behind for a normal life. But when his mind is filled with cryptic symbols, the Decepticons target him and he is dragged back into the Transformers' war.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson
Votes: 428,328 | Gross: $402.11M
43. We Are Marshall (2006)
PG | 131 min | Drama, Sport
When a plane crash claims the lives of members of the Marshall University football team and some of its fans, the team's new coach and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.
Director: McG | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn
Votes: 64,817 | Gross: $43.55M
44. With Honors (1994)
PG-13 | 101 min | Comedy, Drama
Convinced his thesis will have him graduate with honors from Harvard University, a stuffy student finds himself at the mercy of a homeless man's demands when he holds the papers hostage.
Director: Alek Keshishian | Stars: Joe Pesci, Brendan Fraser, Moira Kelly, Patrick Dempsey
Votes: 15,896 | Gross: $20.04M
45. Wonder Boys (2000)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Drama
An English Professor tries to deal with his wife leaving him, the arrival of his editor who has been waiting for his book for seven years, and the various problems that his friends and associates involve him in.
Director: Curtis Hanson | Stars: Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr.
Votes: 66,586 | Gross: $19.39M
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