MovieChat Forums > National Lampoon's Van Wilder (2002) Discussion > Meh, Richard was kinda in the right for ...

Meh, Richard was kinda in the right for most of the movie

posted 14 years ago by chibhatt
1 reply | jump to latest

1.) Their goofy personalities aside, Van WAS a loser while Richard was a respectable member of society. Come on, an aspiring doctor/student government president versus a "career" student thats mooching off daddy's money while picking no major? Only a movie aimed at teens would make the former a bad guy, and the latter a hero.

2.) Who cares if he cheated with that weird chick at the end? Tara Reid's character was emotionally (and nearly physically) cheating on him the entire film beforehand. It was completely justified for Richard at that point. Tara Reid's character was the worse person in the relationship.

Again, I am putting his goofy personality aside (the frat antics, the jerkishness, etc.). Obviously he was an ***hole, but conceptually he was in the right.

[–] hearsz 10 years ago

The first scene that we see Richard, when he has the pledges lined up, thinking that they are about to jump onto broken glass, Gwen interrupts him. When she walks away, you see him having to bite his tongue, almost like he despised her for
something some minor. Straight off he comes across as unlikable to the viewer. (even though he is hilarious throughout)

Gwen also has no control over the story her editor gives her (On Van Wilder). I see this as, without thinking of a better word - "fate". In order to find out she is with the wrong guy, Van comes into her life and gives her a fresher perspective.
She in turn pushes him to stop hiding from the real world, which eventually he does in the end.

Yes they flirt, but they never actually hook up, and Richard, without any real evidence assumes she is cheating on him,
and accusingly criticises her for it .
The reality is, even though she spends all that time with Van, which she has to for the story, Richard cheats on her first,
and is duly punished for it (the colon blow!!).

This is just the way I saw it.