OPENS MAY 9, CERT 15, 90 MINS

Todd Phillips directed the dumb-but-fun Road Trip but this is better, flinging grown men into the standard frat-com mix of beer bongs, hooters and revenge on the dean.

Careerist Luke Wilson walks in on a gang-bang starring his wife, and moves out, winding up in the grounds of the local college. This inspires best mate Vince Vaughn (playing the same as in Swingers and Made) to set up their own fraternity. Sounds lame, and with early scenes involving breezeblocks tied to the knackers, Old School is at first nothing more than Animal House with hair loss.

But as the mayhem goes on, it highlights the sadness in being a thirty something suddenly mugged by divorce and thrown back to square one?essentially a freshman with a beer gut. New face Will Ferrell comes to the fore here. All the bad things happen to him but he takes it on the chin in the hangdog style that until now was copyright of Bill Macy. For bringing Nick Hornby-style pathos to a tired genre, this is well worth bunking off for.