Semester's over and half the dorm has left. The other half has a big
party that night called Snowmageddon, and everybody's getting excited,
stacks booze and drugs, plans when and where to have sex (however likely
or unlikely) and whatnot ... well, everybody but Richard (Blake Merriman),
who weirdly enough wants to finish his paper exactly that day even though
the semester is over - much to the dismay of his roommate Shawn (Nick
Vergara) of course, who finally wants to get his girlfriend Erin (Katy
Wright-Mead) laid. But since he's not really very good at this (and
actually a virgin), he has invited his friend Noopie (Rob Bradford) over,
who's the perfect party animal who always brings booze, drugs, Spanish Fly
and shit. So yeah, it's not long before Richard's and Shawn's rather
contrary intentions clash, and the fact that Richard actually has picked
that day to break up with his girlfriend Melanie (Riccarda Natalie)
because he'll leave college for good doesn't make things any easier. The
real problem of everything though is Noopie, a guy who'll kill for a good
party - almost literally, too. And he's as hormone-driven as he's
ruthless, trying to get into the panties of both Erin and Melanie
eventually, making frequent use of cocaine and "certain pills"
to break their resistance. Of course, this all leads to chaos eventually
... Without being a pseudo-intellectual spoilsport, Drinking
Games is your typical 1980's-style college comedy seen through a dark
mirror, where not everything is fun and games and will be resolved in the
end, but where the typical college party, a genre staple, becomes the
battlefield between (and sorry if I become a bit psychological right now) ego
(Shawn), super-ego (Richard) and id (Noopie) - and the
ending leaves pretty much open who has actually won ... But if that may
make this film sound brain-heavy, believe me, Drinking Games isn't,
it's carried by a nice pace, its approach is suitably ironic, the
characters are well fleshed-out and brought to life by a very decent cast,
and the direction is subtle enough to neither sensationalize nor cheapen
the plot. A pretty cool flick, actually.
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