This movie clearly owes its existence to movies like Animal House, Back to School, PCU, Van Wilder, and Accepted: Comedies about the adjustment from high school to college, from dependent to independent, that aren’t afraid to go for the raunchy jokes.
And yet, Dean Slater: Resident Advisor is shooting for something more philosophical.
In the movie, Tyler Harris (Nick Renaud) was accepted to CalTech based on an independent science project.
Then CalTech retracted his acceptance, based on some Internet video he posted.
Explosions happen, right?
The retraction is a huge upset to his parents, but at least he was accepted to SCSU under their “Never Too Late” program.
He goes on a trust building camping trip with five other first-year students, and Chip (David Wilson Page), a top ranked resident advisor. There’s a mistake, Chip gets arrested in Mexico, and his brother Dean (Mitchell Jarvis) steps in to guide the kids for a few weeks until Chip gets out of jail.
Tyler, Cory (Glenn McCuen), and Yuji (Jimmy Wong) proceed to experience a socially-connected college with the support and assistance of the spacey Dean, who turns out to be a former student, banned for campus for life because of a legendary coup he led against college authorities.
The key to understanding the entirety of DSRA is Chip, a minor character who vanishes 10 minutes into the film, and doesn’t reappear until the closing credits.
Chip has a cocaine problem. Dean is back in town because Samantha, Dean’s old girlfriend played by Italia Ricci, sent a letter about Chip to Dean “somewhere in Germany.” Dean comes to town, searches his brother’s room, and then heads out to the Mexican jail. Dean insists that Chip stay in jail for 21 days as a form of rehab, and then covers for his brother by taking over his class work and his residents. Dean risks being arrested over his lifetime ban from the college to help out his brother.
Most of what Dean does, from there on in, looks reactive but is actually carefully planned. He takes the boys’ clocks and the batteries from their phones (though he returns the latter) as a way to get them to appreciate their own resources, disconnected from digital reality. He tells them about how to party professionally and specifically recommends they go to the Jell-O Shots party on Black Friday because he wants to teach them a lesson about over-drinking, courtesy of his “artisanal absinthe,” which is really syrup of ipecac.
He demonstrates unique skills – kendama, sand castle building, and flying hawks – to demonstrate what they can learn if they disconnect.
The trouble is that there are a lot of other things going on in this movie, and if you miss out on the significance of Chip and his drug habit, you will think that Dean is improvising. The more bizarre things he says, like that he got a hot air balloon from a silkworm, will seem like over-the-top nonsense.
Ultimately, Jarvis’ scenes steal the movie. Jarvis is most famous for playing Keith Stone in Keystone beer ads. He brings that smooth style and attitude to the role of Dean, but the rest of the cast needs more. They need the manic energy of John Belushi, Rodney Dangerfield (or a coked-up Robert Downey Jr.), Jeremy Piven, Ryan Reynolds, or Jack Black.
Although Jarvis may not bring enough energy to boost the movie to epic proportions, he does have charisma and magnetism. Dean’s story of lost love and his attempt to condense his philosophical discoveries into a “Magnum Dopus” are more interesting than anything else in the movie.
The movie does not manage its story arc particularly well. There are too many characters, Chip’s significance is easy to miss, and there are no escalating events leading to the climax. Nothing ever gets worse or more important, until the story suddenly reveals Dean to the dean.
The script can’t pass a Bechdel test, so the less said about the female characters, the better. That’s too bad, because they’re played by talented actors who deserve more.
Ultimately, Dean’s message is that social media and constantly being connected rob of us time to think, experience each other, and opportunities to learn. He’s not wrong. It’s just that the movie lacks the focus to deliver the “off the grid” message powerfully.
There might have been a better way.
First, introduce Tyler and Yuji as college students at SCSU, party school and home of the Fighting Crabs. Tyler should be a very smart guy who everyone turns to for tech support. Yuji is a good guy who acts crazy around everyone but Tyler, because Yuji has a hard time breaking through to people outside social media. Their back-stories are the same as in the existing movie, we just move them to dialogue.
Have the boys head into a bathroom while imitating, and mocking, the professors, while Chip just happens to be doing lines of coke in the toilet. Thinking his professors are in the bathroom, Chip flushes away the coke. He’s a senior with a reputation as an excellent RA. He can’t afford to get caught. He’s furious when he realizes it was only two of his residents, and heads off to Mexico to score some more. In Mexico, Chip gets arrested.
Enter Dean, who clearly knows about Chip’s habit and sees that his little brother stays in Mexico to dry out for three weeks.
Back on campus, we see that the “number one party school” caters to the social media savvy. Classes are available online, as are teaching assistants and professorial office hours.
If Tyler and Yuji want to go to the 80’s Party, then it’s a networking event and they have to belong to the right LinkedIn group for an invite. The Jell-O Shots party isn’t anywhere in the real world, it’s a G+ hangout that they have to be in the right circles to attend. Tyler hacks their way into that one, but he and Yuji regard it as lame. Something is missing, although they don’t know what.
Dean enters their lives and forces them to disconnect. He teaches them kendama. He takes them to the beach to see a sunset. Key Dean Lesson: Participation is better than observation.
They have a party in Dean’s room that attracts people from elsewhere in the dorm. The guys start meeting new people and making friends. Great place for the buzz check lesson. Re-use the absinthe/ipecac bit, but without the music video.
While Yuji’s popularity increases, Tyler struggles. He no longer wants to support people living the connected lifestyle. He wants them to disengage. He sees Internet connection problems as opportunities to do things for real. Many of the students are resistant, and become angry when Tyler is out having a life instead of providing free tech support out of his dorm room.
Hanna (Nathalia Ramos) gets it, though, and takes an interest in Tyler. While Yuji enjoys as many people (especially girls) as he can, Tyler is happy to have one really cool person in his life – and that’s Hanna. She asks him what somebody who is so smart and tech savvy is doing at SCSU when he could be at CalTech or MIT or something, and we get the story about the retraction.
Tyler and Yuji also start going to class. This causes an escalation in the plot. The teachers are used to performing for the cameras, not interacting live with the students. Because Dean has started teaching the boys that it’s not what you can look up but rather what you know and how you think about it, the boys ask questions the teachers are not prepared to answer.
What’s more, as the boys gain campus notoriety, more students start showing up instead of observing online. Not all of them are happy. Some are showing up because of technical issues that Tyler is not around to solve. Since they can’t participate online, they have to come to “live” class. When the teachers ask questions about why this is happening, Dean’s name comes up. The administration learns that he is in violation of the lifetime ban.
The boys, meanwhile, come up with a plan to get the entire campus to experience real life, and go to shut down all campus cell phone and Internet access. Yuji takes off to a party. Hanna and Tyler go to the beach, and he confesses to his Internet video.
Shutting things down, as in the existing movie, goes too far.
Dean, meanwhile, has completed his Magnum Dopus. The anger on campus culminates in a sit-in at the administration building, as in the existing movie but bigger. This is ironic, of course, because the very people resisting the call to real-life experience are now having one.
Seizing the opportunity to present the Dopus directly to the people, Dean appears at the administration building. He gets his message out, as in the existing movie, but gets busted by the campus cops.
Tyler realizes a critical lesson that there is no restart from save in real life, and he must face the consequences of his actions. He admits to the people at the rally that he turned off the Internet and cellular coverage, and promises to turn it back on. Key Dean Lesson: Responsibility is liberating.
This movie ends the way the actual movie does, with the Dean of SCSU moved by the Dopus and offering Dean Slater the new chair of the philosophy department. Everyone on campus is checking out the disconnected life (but please drop the “Facelooking” thing). Tyler’s stunt with the Internet gets CalTech to retract its retraction, but Tyler wants to learn more about philosophy and stays with his friends.
Don’t get me wrong: DSRA is worth a watch, as-is. It could just be better.
Christian, Colin, and Scott Sander (the writers, Colin also directed) are all young and early in their careers. It’s pretty amazing that they pulled off a movie as good as this one is. While DSRA isn’t as good as it wants to be, its heart is in the right place and you should look forward to more work from the Sanders.
But, guys, the movie poster and the opening credits are classic examples of misleading marketing. If you don’t change anything else, change those.
