Favorite College Movies
by ranksfornothin | created - 07 Sep 2020 | updated - 07 Sep 2020 | PublicOut of the frying pan and into ANOTHER frying pan. Welcome to Episode 190 of the RANKS FOR NOTHIN' podcast. This list we rank our "Favorite College Movies". Download and subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, and Spotify.
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1. 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: 243,419 | Gross: $75.59M
Mike's 1st Pick - 1st Overall
2. The Rules of Attraction (2002)
R | 110 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The incredibly spoiled and overprivileged students of Camden College are a backdrop for an unusual love triangle between a drug dealer, a virgin and a bisexual classmate.
Director: Roger Avary | Stars: James Van Der Beek, Ian Somerhalder, Shannyn Sossamon, Jessica Biel
Votes: 53,328 | Gross: $6.53M
Matt's 1st Pick - 2nd Overall
3. Dead Man on Campus (1998)
R | 96 min | Comedy
Two college roommates go out and party, resulting in bad grades. They learn of the clause that says, "If your roommate dies, you get an A," and decide to find someone who is on the verge, so to speak, to move in with them.
Director: Alan Cohn | Stars: Tom Everett Scott, Mark-Paul Gosselaar, Poppy Montgomery, Lochlyn Munro
Votes: 16,356 | Gross: $15.06M
Sean's 1st Pick - 3rd Overall
4. 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: 14,505 | Gross: $4.35M
Sean's 2nd Pick - 4th Overall
5. Everybody Wants Some!! (2016)
R | 117 min | Comedy
In 1980, a group of college baseball players navigate their way through the freedoms and responsibilities of unsupervised adulthood.
Director: Richard Linklater | Stars: Blake Jenner, Tyler Hoechlin, Ryan Guzman, Zoey Deutch
Votes: 58,643 | Gross: $3.37M
Matt's 2nd Pick - 5th Overall
6. 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: 1,068,578 | Gross: $138.43M
Mike's 2nd Pick - 6th Overall
7. 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: 15,239 | Gross: $4.81M
Mike's 3rd Pick - 7th Overall
8. Whiplash (2014)
R | 106 min | Drama, Music
A promising young drummer enrolls at a cut-throat music conservatory where his dreams of greatness are mentored by an instructor who will stop at nothing to realize a student's potential.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Miles Teller, J.K. Simmons, Melissa Benoist, Paul Reiser
Votes: 989,997 | Gross: $13.09M
Matt's 3rd Pick - 8th Overall
9. 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: 140,043 | Gross: $36.32M
Sean's 3rd Pick - 9th Overall
10. Road Trip (2000)
R | 93 min | Comedy
Four college buddies embark on a road trip to retrieve an illicit tape mistakenly mailed to a female friend.
Director: Todd Phillips | Stars: Breckin Meyer, Seann William Scott, Amy Smart, Paulo Costanzo
Votes: 178,314 | Gross: $68.54M
Honorable Mention - Sean
11. 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: 178,433 | Gross: $161.49M
Honorable Mention - Sean
12. 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: 36,213 | Gross: $91.26M
Honorable Mention - Sean
13. Neighbors (I) (2014)
R | 97 min | Comedy
After they are forced to live next to a fraternity house, a couple with a newborn baby do whatever they can to take them down.
Director: Nicholas Stoller | Stars: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, Lisa Kudrow
Votes: 329,445 | Gross: $150.16M
Honorable Mention - Matt
14. 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: 51,945 | Gross: $41.03M
Honorable Mention - Matt
15. 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: 758,968 | Gross: $96.96M
Honorable Mention - Matt
16. The Stanford Prison Experiment (2015)
R | 122 min | Biography, Drama, History
In 1971, twenty-four male students are selected to take on randomly assigned roles of prisoners and guards in a mock prison situated in the basement of the Stanford psychology building.
Director: Kyle Patrick Alvarez | Stars: Ezra Miller, Tye Sheridan, Billy Crudup, Olivia Thirlby
Votes: 46,133 | Gross: $0.64M
Honorable Mention - Matt
17. Happy Death Day (2017)
PG-13 | 96 min | Comedy, Horror, Mystery
A college student must relive the day of her murder over and over again, in a loop that will end only when she discovers her killer's identity.
Director: Christopher Landon | Stars: Jessica Rothe, Israel Broussard, Ruby Modine, Charles Aitken
Votes: 162,867 | Gross: $55.68M
Honorable Mention - Matt
18. 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: 330,815 | Gross: $65.00M
Honorable Mention - Mike
19. 22 Jump Street (2014)
R | 112 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
After making their way through high school (twice), big changes are in store for officers Schmidt and Jenko when they go deep undercover at a local college.
Directors: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller | Stars: Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Ice Cube, Nick Offerman
Votes: 406,231 | Gross: $191.72M
Honorable Mention - Mike
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: 129,366
Honorable Mention - Mike
21. 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: 390,187 | Gross: $268.49M
Honorable Mention - Mike
22. 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: 21,556 | Gross: $38.29M
Honorable Mention - Mike
23. 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: 58,384 | Gross: $40.90M
Honorable Mention - Mike
24. Real Genius (1985)
PG | 108 min | Comedy, Romance, Sci-Fi
An uptight teenage prodigy enters a top engineering college, but feels awkward among the freewheeling students. When a professor aims to turn their laser project into a military weapon, he and his offbeat roommate plot to ruin the plan.
Director: Martha Coolidge | Stars: Val Kilmer, Stacy Peralta, Daniel Ades, Andres Aybar
Votes: 37,763 | Gross: $13.00M
Honorable Mention - Mike
25. 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: 15,912 | Gross: $20.04M
Honorable Mention - Mike
26. 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: 288,487 | Gross: $104.95M
Honorable Mention - Mike
27. How High (2001)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Fantasy
Two guys by the name of Silas and Jamal decided to one day smoke something magical, which eventually helps them to ace their college entrance exam.
Director: Jesse Dylan | Stars: Method Man, Redman, Obba Babatundé, Mike Epps
Votes: 61,790 | Gross: $31.16M
Honorable Mention - Matt
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