Over the past 25 years, there have been many cinematic heroes who have bucked the system...refusing to play by anyone else's rules. Our favorites just happened to be the ones who were graduating high school. Sean Penn started off the pack as the philosophical king of "tasty waves" and "a cool buzz," Jeff Spicoli of Fast Times at Ridgemont High; Tom Cruise introduced us to the hormonal entrepreneur Joel Goodsen of Risky Business; Alex Winter as Bill S. Preston and Keanu Reeves as Ted "Theodore" Logan rewrote history in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. And, perhaps the master of all cons, Matthew Broderick will forever be synonymous with his title role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Though from different backgrounds (and IQ scores), these brave young men had one thing in common -- they took society's standards and expectations of how they were supposed to act and fit in and resoundingly chucked them out the window.
In 2006, we proudly introduce the most ingenious slacker-turned-entrepreneur to date, Bartleby "B" Gaines (JUSTIN LONG, Dodgeball, The Break-Up), in a socially subversive comedy for anyone who has ever felt the sting of rejection -- Accepted. Blockbuster producers TOM SHADYAC (Bruce Almighty, The Nutty Professor) and MICHAEL BOSTICK (Bruce Almighty, Liar Liar) join first-time director STEVE PINK (writer of Grosse Pointe Blank, High Fidelity) in a comedy that discards norms, dismisses the status quo and challenges us to take the road less traveled...even if we have to make it up as we go along.
The filmmakers have culled a talented young cast in Accepted to give a wake-up call to a generation trapped within America's stagnant school system, those Gen Y-ers deeply entrenched in unquestioning social standards of excellence. Speaking to the human need to fit in and find our niche, the film begs we ask ourselves one simple question: "What does it mean to become Accepted?"
After a lifetime of smooth-talking his way through the system and questioning societal restrictions, one graduating high school senior has found a quandary he can't charm his way out of: college admission. All eight universities to which B applied have rejected him, and dire consequences unfold for an 18-year-old with no foreseeable future. So what can a matriculating hopeful do when the admissions gods just don't have faith in him?
Simple. Open his own university.
B decides the best way into college is to create his own, or at least produce enough of a façade to fool his parents. With the help of his nerve-wracked best pal Schrader (JONAH HILL, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) and a collection of his college-exempt friends -- including bookworm Rory (MARIA THAYER, Strangers With Candy), spaced-out foodie Glen (newcomer ADAM HERSCHMAN) and jock Hands (COLUMBUS SHORT, Save the Last Dance 2) -- B and his pals found the "illustrious" South Harmon Institute of Technology out of an abandoned psychiatric facility. Under their care, S.H.I.T. becomes a place where they can make their own rules, design curriculum and maintain complete control over their education. And they are not the only new students. The off-the-grid school appeals to scores of college cast-offs who gratefully (and unexpectedly) show up once they learn of the "we accept anyone" mentality of this new university.
To help manage the responsibilities of both running a university and keeping his parents in the dark, B hires Schrader's outspoken and politically disenchanted Uncle Ben (LEWIS BLACK, television's The Daily Show) to pose as the dean. To add to his stress, however, B must balance academia while trying to woo the girl next door, Monica (BLAKE LIVELY, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants), who barely knows he's alive.
Slowly, incredibly, the experiment begins to work. Kids freed from the shackles of locked curriculum blossom under S.H.I.T's "design your destiny" tutelage. Unfortunately, they are quickly gaining unwanted attention and threats from "sister school" Harmon University, led by Dean Van Horne (ANTHONY HEALD, The Silence of the Lambs) and the state school board. Now, B and his fellow freshmen must overturn the classical notion of what a college experience consists of and reassert that it is their right to pursue their own dreams...all while trying to stay out of jail.
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