Stealing Harvard is such a feel good movie. I can't believe that this film hasn't got the recognition it deserves.

First off, I would like to comment on the amazing acting. Tom Green as "Duff" is absolutely fabulous. He completely sucks you in to the movie, and delivers a hilarious performance. For a normal man to play such a role shows how great of an acting performance that was.

While Jason Lee also did a great job as John Plummer, I have to give the real prize to John C. McGinley as Detective Charles. One minute he is calm like John Plummer, and the next minute he is crazy like Duff! He was incredible to watch, and delivered an astronomical performance, which is sadly very overlooked.

Overall, Stealing Harvard was just an amazing film. I love it, and watch it very often. Anyone who doesn't like this movie obviously couldn't recognize how great it really was.

If it had not been for the exceedingly unfunny sight gags and basic writing style, I'd immediately fault Bruce McCulloch's Stealing Harvard for being an assembly of charmless stupidity and its use of bland, undeveloped characters. Consistent readers know I've subjected myself to stupid comedies and have emerged from some of them with a good review in hand. Such films would be Bio-Dome, Encino Man, and more recently, 2010's remake of Death at a Funeral.

However, there are requirements that I have in my head to be able to call a stupid movie a good one. For starters, a setup that's at least mildly intriguing. Second, one liners that are somewhat memorable. Finally, something that can differentiate it from a stupid movie in the crowd. Stealing Harvard only succeeds in having a somewhat interesting premise and one funny sequence, which involves shouting, repetition, and randomness - thinks I am known to have a disdain for.

Our story begins with John (Jason Lee),a man who is this close to marrying his fiancée and buying a home. His plans get halted when his niece (Tammy Blanchard),who he has become increasingly close to due to her lack of a father figure, reveals that she has been accepted to Harvard, and pulls out a tape of her when she was little, after she failed a spelling bee. On the tape, her uncle John promises her that he will pay for her to go to school when the time comes, and, in present time, she tells them there is only one small chunk left to pay - a $29,000 chunk.

Try to digest that plot point while I bring out another. John's best bud is "Duff" (Tom Green),a clueless, lazy dork who runs a third-rate landscaping business. He reveals to John that while clean and landscaping some rich stiff's home, that he has an open safe with a boatload of money that is simply collecting dust. The two half-wits decide to break in to the home and take the money, but when that idea fails, they concoct more, one of which is robbing a liquor store yuet becoming more preoccupied with who has what fake name rather than the actual operation.

Jason Lee, an actor who we saw was completely capable of creating a character in Chasing Amy and Mallrats functions with sitcom shallowness here, and Tom Green, an actor whose wide range of performances hasn't allowed him to adopt much likability, is a text book idiotic Neanderthal here.

And don't even get me started on the barrage of lackluster plot points and details the film includes, either. There's a little thing in comedies I call "too much information," where a running joke or setup is attempted to be created out of something rather disheartening or simply not funny. Certain "too much information" gags here are the details and the sequences showing John's fiancée (Leslie Mann) crying during sex and her oppressive relationship with her overprotective father. Such things do not belong in a comedy.

Stealing Harvard greatly reminds me of a smarter, infinitely more nuanced comedy called Orange County, that came out the same year as this one in 2002. The film centered around Colin Hanks' character who desperately tries to get accepted to a college, but he finds that his dysfunctional family and chaotic mishaps are burdening roadblocks to this dream. Hanks' character had a screw-up brother, played by Jack Black, who acted much like Tom Green in this film. Hanks' character also reminded me of the niece character here, played by Tammy Blanchard, as someone clearly ambitious but limited. Why was Orange County a three star comedy and this one a one and a half star comedy? Because Orange County chose wisely and took the challenge, focusing on the struggling soul at the core of the story. Not the imbeciles limiting them.

Starring: Jason Lee, Tom Green, Leslie Mann, and Tammy Blanchard. Directed by: Bruce McCulloch.

A middle-class man (Jason Lee) turns to a life of crime in order to finance his niece's first year at Harvard University.

Jason Lee is awesome here, playing a slightly cleaned up version of Brodie Bruce, his character from "Mallrats". (Heck, he even talks about "spooning" in both.) He has the same voice and similar comments, leading me to think he improvised (though some great lines -- like "lot of money, but it's a lot of chair" -- are obviously from the script).

Other great actors appear, including Bill from "Freaks and Geeks", John C. McGinley and Richard Jenkins. Tom Green was nominated for a Razzie, though if you look back now, this was probably not deserving of that nod (though I confess Green's style of humor is not for everyone).