Not long ago, Casey, Miller and Jeff Chang were as close as friends could be. Sure, Casey is a bit more buttoned-up compared to Miller’s wild child, with Jeff Chang serving as their foil, studious and ambitious, but that’s why they’re best buddies; they complete each other. Going to different colleges may have put physical distance between them, but they’re still as tight as ever.
This trip to Northern Pacific University in Seattle is about attaining newfound glory; the three of them finally being able to party freely in the eyes of the law, unencumbered by the nuisance of fake IDs and bothersome bouncers. Only problem: Jeff Chang’s overbearing Doctor-father has a Med School interview scheduled for 8AM the next morning, and he’s determined his son follows in his footsteps as a physician.
Luckily, Miller offers a compromise: only one drink, one single drink. It’s only fair since he and Casey traveled all this way to surprise Jeff Chang, and they’ll even have him back by midnight. Certainly sounds reasonable enough, until that one drink turns into many.
Barhopping for Jeff Chang’s birthday is quickly becoming a night for the ages, complete with copious shots and mechanical-bull rides. Even Casey loosens up enough to hit it off with Jeff Chang’s friend Nicole, a smoking hot coed. It’s as though nothing can go wrong! That is, until Jeff Chang starts blacking out and it’s time to take him home.
Naturally, this should spell the end of the evening, only Miller and Casey are in unfamiliar territory; they have no idea where Jeff Chang lives! With the hours till Jeff Chang’s crucial interview ticking away, Casey and Miller embark on an epic quest to put their drunken friend to bed. Along their journey, they draw the ire of a Latina sorority, the NPU mascot, an angry buffalo, and Randy, Nicole’s cheerleader boyfriend. But when their friendship is called into question, that turns out to be the biggest test of them all.
About the Production (2013)
On the heels of a resounding success in The Fighter, producers David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman were presented an exciting opportunity; not only would they reteam with the studio that helped earn them Academy Award nominations, but they would be collaborating with writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, whose work they long admired. “[Relativity] had this script that they wanted to make with Lucas and Moore and wanted to find producers for them,” said Hoberman. “We had tried to be in business with Lucas and Moore as writers many times… and really loved the guys and their voice and their sense of humor… And we loved the script and loved them. It was kind of a no-brainer for us.”
Added Lieberman, “Producing an R-rated comedy isn’t something that I’d ever done before and really wanted to. And so it felt like the opportunity to work with two guys who I really respected and wanted to work with… it seemed like kind of like the perfect situation.”
The screenplay that garnered much adulation from its producers may have a simple premise at its core, but don’t think it doesn’t dig a little deeper. “The basic premise is really three friends who get together to celebrate one of their twenty-first birthday and the whole night goes off the rails,” said Moore. “[The question we explore is] are most friendships based on proximity?” This theme permeates the story; its relevance resoundingly clear when characters’ friendships are tried by fire. “You make all these great friendships, but is it because you’re actually meeting people and having a deep connection, or is it just that you live down the hall from this guy and it’s easy to hang out with him and go out and party?” said Moore.
While outrageous scenes are the norm in this genre of comedy, 21 and Over surprises, balancing zany set-pieces with down-to-earth, relatable situations. “Really broad comedy without the grounding isn’t something that I’m necessarily interested in,” said Lieberman. “And what this script offered was both.”
After writing the monumentally successful comedy The Hangover, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore penned 21 and Over as a spec script not based on their own experiences, but about the outrageous things they had longed to do. “Mostly Scott and I write from wish fulfillment. I don’t think my 21st birthday was as crazy as I’d like to remember. I definitely made mistakes on my 21st birthday, but no where near what our heroes experience,” shared Lucas.
“We were really excited about the idea of doing a plot-driven comedy,” added Lucas. “A lot of people loved The Hangover, and we’re grateful for all of them, but I don’t think people loved it for the same reasons we loved it as writers. We loved it because it was a real; it was a comedy that was driven by story, as opposed to a comedy driven by an idea. The idea of writing mystery-comedy is exciting to us.”
“The Hangover was really director Todd Phillips’ movie and he did a great job. I’m proud to have my name on it, but this is more an expression of who we are. Our comedy comes from a slightly different place. We go for a slightly more emotional level. I saw that on the day we shot the the vomiting in the bar scene,” laughed Lucas. “But it is heartfelt.”
“We also like a thriller structure in a comedy, so you’re not just relying on jokes, because jokes are hard,” Lucas pointed out. “Successful comedies have more than just laughs, they get you engaged and caring about the characters as you’re laughing.”
“Also, Jon and I like to write movies about universal experiences,” contributed Moore. “As writers, we try to make more out of everything. We had a checklist of a couple of things that we feel pretty much everybody has gone through. Almost everyone has had a hangover, and at some point in life you will turn 21. It is this little rite of passage. So we had this notion floating around and it married really well with this experience that Jon had at a musical festival and it all came together as this movie.”
“I was in the desert at Coachella, so it’s really hot and a friend’s girlfriend’s sister got messed up beyond belief. The tickets were really expensive, it was a big trip, and then he spent the whole time carrying this poor girl,” laughed Lucas. “I’m 35 now and as a movie writer, you’re basically pulling from everything that has ever happened to you. That feeling of carrying your buddy home, you probably did it once a semester in college, like that Vietnam pose of you getting your buddy home… I was starting to fire some axons in the brain and think maybe there’s an idea there.”
“21 is a birthday you really celebrate,” added Lucas. “You’re so psyched. Turning 16 or 17 is a huge one because you can finally drive, and then turning 21 is really exciting. After that, I’m not saying it’s all downhill, but you really don’t celebrate 22. You kind of celebrate 30, but not really, and turning 40 definitely isn’t awesome.” Moore added, “Then you stop celebrating. Done.”
“But 21 is where you go out with all your friends. We call it the American Bar Mitzvah in the movie, because it is oddly this day when America recognizes you as a grownup,” explained Lucas. “You can now do everything you haven’t been able to do. That moment when you first walk into your first bar and you finally don’t feel like you have to lie to someone to get in, you don’t have to be a fraud, you can be welcomed in… it felt like fodder.”
“College is a seminal moment in all our lives because there’s that moment of freedom experienced for the first time,” said Hoberman. “Adults look back fondly on discovering what college life was really like and those who are going through it can also relate. These are three guys that haven’t seen each other in a while and have to get to know each other again. In the intervening years, they’ve changed. Each one goes through an arc: Miller has got to accept responsibility; Skylar needs to loosen up from his fast track to get into the financial world; and Jeff Chang, who is really the primary story, has gotten himself in trouble as a result of traveling in his father’s footsteps. Each of them go through a journey, but they do end up reigniting that friendship they had years ago.”
“It’s actually a really clean idea – two great friends go visit their other third friend at college on his 21st birthday, get him so wasted that they can’t find where he lives, and spend the entire night trying to find his home,” added Lieberman. “This happens and this happens and this happens, but all the obstacles are in the service of a larger goal… get that guy home because his dad’s going to kill him if he doesn’t make that medical school interview. Along the way, they encounter an unbelievable amount of crazy set pieces, but the general construct of the movie is a very simple A to B, almost a road trip paradigm, but on one college campus.”
21 and Over (2013)
Directed by: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Starring: Sarah Wright, Justin Chon, Miles Teller, Jonathan Keltz, Daniel Booko
Screenplay by: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore
Production Design by: Jerry Fleming
Cinematography by: Terry Stacey
Film Editing by: John Refoua
Costume Design by: Christine Wada
Music by: Lyle Workman
MPAA Rating: R for crude and sexual content, pervasive language, some graphic nudity, drugs and drinking.
Studio: Relativity Media
Release Date: March 1, 2013
Visits: 62
