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STEALING HARVARD

Harebrained high jinks run amok in Bruce McCulloch’s screwball comedy about hapless John Plummer (Jason Lee), who promises the same $30,000 to two women in his life. His girlfriend, Elaine (Leslie Mann), wants it for a down payment on a house; his trailer-trash niece, Noreen (Tammy Blanchard), needs it for tuition after she’s miraculously accepted at the World’s Greatest University. John compounds his dilemma by turning to his friend Duff (Tom Green), an inept groundskeeper with criminal proclivities, for financial advice. Green mugs relentlessly and does score a few gutbusting results. The real laughs, however, come from Richard Jenkins as a rich widower with a .357 magnum who demands that John get into bed and "spoon" with him. There are also some effective running gags: Elaine’s penchant for crying during sex; the department store for the physically challenged that’s owned by her controlling father (Dennis Farina). All the same, no one’s likely to mistake this film for Harvard material. (82 minutes)

BY TOM MEEK

Issue Date: September 12 - 19, 2002
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