National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj
The second "Van Wilder" takes Taj, the Indian-American turned into a man by Reynolds in "Van Wilder," to England for grad school. And while Taj (Kal Penn, from "Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle") may be just "a curry-breathing cretin" to the local snobs, he's determined to make his teaching assistant/resident adviser gigs pay off in lots of choose-your-own-euphemism-for-sex-here, and perhaps the reformation of a dorm full of "losers" who remind him of himself back in the day.
Taj enrolls at Camford, an Oxford knockoff, where the effete elite mock him and see to it that he's put in charge of others they mock. The inhabitants of "The Barn" include a cockney tart (Holly Davidson), a science geek (Anthony Cozens), an Irish rugby thug (Glen Barry) and a silent dweeb (Steven Rathman) who has hidden assets that we won't divulge here.
There's a campuswide contest for a trophy, a contest involving athletic, mental and social (beer-drinking) skills. Taj resolves to make the kids in The Barn winners by taking that cup.
A few jokes work. Taj resolves to be an unconventional teaching assistant. He wants the kids to tear up their stodgy textbooks. "C'mon, you've seen 'Dead Poets' Society,' rip out Page 32."
But even at its best, the film never rises to the level of time-killer. Penn needs to do "Harold & Kumar 2" before he Ryan Reynoldses his way out of being young, snarky and over-sexed, too.
"National Lampoon's Van Wilder: The Rise of Taj" is rated R for pervasive crude sexual content, some nudity and language. Running time: 95 minutes.