# Is "Animal House" overrated? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2010, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858 "2010-03-09T15:29:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/41 "2010-03-09T20:54:51Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Not Sandeep, the guy’s name was **Jugdish** …I remember thinking, “What the heck kind of name is _Jugdish_?” Hey… if you knew how many brain cells have been destroyed in the last 32 years… 3 out of 4 isn’t bad. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/42 "2010-03-09T20:56:47Z")
Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/43 "2010-03-09T21:00:36Z")
> [@Spud](#): > > Hey… if you knew how many brain cells have been destroyed in the last 32 years… 3 out of 4 isn’t bad. The flip side of that is: all the worthwhile, **important** stuff I’ve forgotten since then…but I remembered “Jugdish”! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/44 "2010-03-09T21:09:51Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > The flip side of that is: all the worthwhile, **important** stuff I’ve forgotten since then…but I remembered “Jugdish”! 😛 Animal House trivia isn’t **important**??? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/45 "2010-03-09T21:18:02Z")
**Sophomore Dies in Kiln Explosion** “She was gonna make a pot for me.” ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/46 "2010-03-09T21:22:26Z")
“I know. She told me.” ---
**Author:** ![Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/le_ministre_de_l_au-dela/32/12181_2.png) [@Le\_Ministre\_de\_l\_au-dela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Le_Ministre_de_l_au-dela)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/47 "2010-03-09T21:23:57Z")
No, it is not overrated. It cannot be overrated. Often imitated, never equalled. I just needed to jump in to say that. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/48 "2010-03-09T23:14:29Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Nope, not over-rated. Is surely has to one of the best “frat comedy” movies ever. It basically created the genre. You would not have Revenge of the Nerds, PCU, Van Wilder, American Pie, Old School, and dozens of other, more inferior, college frat comedies without Animal House. > [@astorian](#): > > Overrated how? By whom? > > Did it win a pile of Oscars? Does it make all the critics’ “10 Greatest Films of All Time” list? No. So, how is Animal House “overrated”? I’m sure it appears on a lot of “Greatest Films of All Time” lists. Maybe not top ten, but certainly it’s on someone’s lists. Also it one an Oscar for Hilarity. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/49 "2010-03-10T00:51:23Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Overrated how? By whom? > > Did it win a pile of Oscars? Does it make all the critics’ “10 Greatest Films of All Time” list? No. So, how is \*\*\*Animal House \*\*\*“overrated”? [ > [@](#): > > In 2001, the United States Library of Congress deemed the film “culturally significant” and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. > > This film is number 1 on Bravo’s 100 Funniest Movies. > > It was number 36 on AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Laughs list of the 100 best American comedies. > > In 2008, Empire Magazine selected Animal House as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time. ]([Animal House - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_house)) It’s not overrated. It’s properly rated as one of the greatest comedy movies of all time. I just watched it again today (prompted by this thread’s ludicrous premise), and it’s still funny as hell. ---
**Author:** ![Satchmo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/satchmo/32/4223_2.png) [@Satchmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satchmo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/50 "2010-03-10T00:56:07Z")
> [@BMalion](#): > > trust me, I’m in pre-law. > [@Spud](#): > > I thought you were pre med… What’s the difference? Also: There were blanks in that gun! I didn’t even point it at him. There **WERE** blanks in that gun! ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/51 "2010-03-10T01:07:28Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Not Sandeep, the guy’s name was **Jugdish** …I remember thinking, “What the heck kind of name is _Jugdish_?” No, no. Niedermeyer introduced them to Dorfman first, and called the guy “Jugdish.” Then Marmalard brought Dorfman back over there and introduced them again, and called him by his correct name - “Jugless.” (You can see in the first scene that after Niedermeyer calls him Jugdish he quickly checks his nametag). It also took me several viewings before I realized the significance of Otter holding up his satchel and smiling when he entered the courthouse. (It’s where ke keeps his giant dildo that we saw way at the beginning of the movie) Oh - obviously I fall into the “not overrated” camp. ---
**Author:** ![Bartman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Bartman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bartman)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/52 "2010-03-10T01:10:43Z")
I saw it for the first time this year, and I hardly cracked a smile once. I realize that it is the movie that created and defined the genre, but for me it was just a bit slow and formulaic (if the movie that generated the formula can be called formulaic). ---
**Author:** ![C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecd19e/32.png) [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C.Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/53 "2010-03-10T01:39:03Z")
Not overrated, but it is outdated. Animal House used to be the movie that all the kids watched and quoted endlessly. Then it was the movie the younger kids watched because their older brother liked it and said it was cool. Then it was the movie everybody loved because it was on TBS every other day. I think enough time has past and the original audience has aged to the point where it doesn’t have the same impact it once did. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/54 "2010-03-10T02:11:21Z")
> [@Bartman](#): > > I saw it for the first time this year, and I hardly cracked a smile once. I realize that it is the movie that created and defined the genre, but for me it was just a bit slow and formulaic (if the movie that generated the formula can be called formulaic). > [@C.Montgomery\_Burns](#): > > Not overrated, but it is outdated. It’s a little bit long-winded. It doesn’t translate very well into our generation, and its jokes are terrible. But that doesn’t relieve you from your responsibility for this material. I’m waiting for reports from some of you. I’m not joking! This is my job. ---
**Author:** ![In\_Winnipeg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a8b319/32.png) [@In\_Winnipeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/In_Winnipeg)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/55 "2010-03-10T02:55:19Z")
Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? ---
**Author:** ![Stephe96](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Stephe96](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stephe96)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/56 "2010-03-10T03:03:17Z")
I haven’t been able to watch _ **Animal House** _ since my fiancee, Fawn Liebowitz, was killed in a kiln explosion. OK, so we we’re actually engaged to be engaged…but she was making me an ashtray. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/57 "2010-03-10T03:09:41Z")
> [@Satchmo](#): > > What’s the difference? Thank you… I was concerned the correct response would not be posted. Again… any other 32 year old movies that can get this many responses with trivial quotes… other than the other classics of the era like Caddyshack, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and the Holly Grail ---
**Author:** ![LittleGreenRosetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c77e96/32.png) [@LittleGreenRosetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LittleGreenRosetta)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/58 "2010-03-10T03:11:16Z")
> [@tr0psn4j](#): > > Now if I go back to CF and see a similar thread about **the Blues Brothers** being overrated today, I’m going to be pissed. Best. Movie. Ever. And Animal House- definitely not overrated. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/59 "2010-03-10T03:18:28Z")
It’s also worth noting that Animal House is a key movie when it comes to Kevin Bacon degrees-of-separation. ---
**Author:** ![Wargamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/df705f/32.png) [@Wargamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wargamer)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858/60 "2010-03-10T03:27:29Z")
Thank you sir, may I have another! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-animal-house-overrated/531858.md?page=4)