| Dead Man on Campus | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Alan Cohn |
| Screenplay by | Michael Traeger Mike White |
| Story by | Anthony Abrams Adam Larson Broder |
| Produced by | Gale Anne Hurd |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | John A. Thomas |
| Edited by | Debra Chiate |
| Music by | Mark Mothersbaugh |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date |
|
Running time | 96 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $14 million |
| Box office | $15 million |
Dead Man on Campus is a 1998 Americanblack comedy film starringTom Everett Scott andMark-Paul Gosselaar. It centers on theurban legend that a student getsstraight As if hisroommate commitssuicide (seepass by catastrophe). Two failing friends attempt to find adepressed roommate to push him over the edge and receive As.
To boost ticket sales, the film's U.S. release was timed with the start of the new college school year in late August 1998. The film was shot atUniversity of the Pacific inStockton, California.Dead Man on Campus was released byParamount Pictures on August 21, 1998 to negative reviews from critics while grossing $15 million against a $14 million budget.
Josh gets into college on a scholarship, and Cooper is assigned as his roommate. Cooper does little work and instead spends all the time partying and consistently fails his courses, but his father continues to pay his tuition. The normally studious Josh is led astray by Cooper's lifestyle, and spends the first half of his first year partying instead of studying, and consequently fails all of his midterm exams.
To his horror, Josh learns that a condition of his scholarship is a passing mark average each year, and that with his poor midterm score, he needs an A+++ in all of his courses or he will lose his scholarship. Meanwhile, Cooper's father finally realizes Cooper is not trying to pass his courses at all, and threatens to pull his funding if he does not get a passing mark this year, leaving him in a similar position.
Cooper and Josh find out about an obscure academic rule that states that if a student's roommate commits suicide, then the roommates get perfect marks for that year, regardless of any previous academic standing. They set out to find roommates who are likely to commit suicide; however, they soon realize that their first potential roommate, Cliff O'Malley, is more likely to get himself (and anyone with him) killed or arrested, and jump out of his moving car when he is being chased by the police.
Next they try Buckley Schrank, a computer geek who thinksBill Gates wants his brain. After they move him in, they try to push him over the edge. First, Cooper poses as a suicide hotline volunteer, and when Buckley calls, tells him he is Bill Gates and wants his brain. Cooper buys items that may be used in a suicide (rope, daggers, prescription drugs), but as he and Josh are trying to plant them around the dorm room, Buckley discovers them and flees, thinking that the conspiracy is real and they are trying to kill him.
Finally, Josh and Cooper move in with Matt Noonan, a moody rock musician. Later, Cooper catches him singingshow tunes and learns he was voted Mr. Happy in high school, leading them to believe that he is only pretending to be depressed to impress girls and make a name for himself in music. Facing the loss of his scholarship, Josh stands on the edge of a bridge, about to commit suicide himself. Cooper tells Josh he is not a failure and talks him down. When Josh comes down from the bridge, he reveals to Cooper that he was faking his suicide attempt so the school would not fail him, and Cooper would look like a hero to his father.
The film ends with Josh narrating that he was given an additional semester to improve his grades, in which he saved his scholarship, and that Cooper became a more serious student, but did work summers cleaning toilets for his father's business to learn how to eventually take over.
Filming occurred in early-mid 1997, and it was originally intended to be released in August 1997, in time for the start of the new college school year.[1][2] It was the first roleAlyson Hannigan did after completing work on the inaugural season ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, which was airing onThe WB as the movie was being shot. Two of the cast members,Poppy Montgomery andCorey Page, were born in Australia, although both used fake American accents for their characters.
Scenes were shot on the campus ofUniversity of the Pacific (Stockton, California),[3]Modesto's7th Street Bridge,[4] and outside the campus ofUniversity of Southern California.[5]
The film grossed $15,064,946 domestically against a $14 million budget.[6]
Dead Man on Campus received negative reviews from critics. The movie has a 15% rating on the aggregate film review siteRotten Tomatoes based on 47 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Not much of a story."[7]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 27 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable" reviews.[8] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "C+" on an A+ to F scale.[9]
The New York Times said the film was "predictably dumb", but praised Mark-Paul Gosselaar's performance, saying, "Mr. Gosselaar is so good, however, that his performance as Cooper sometimes overrides the film's adolescent tone."[10]
TheSan Francisco Chronicle's Mick LaSalle said although there were some laughs, "the overall premise, involving mental illness and suicide, isn't all that funny, at least not in practice, and the picture begins to seem labored and long. Josh and his buddy go through the last hour ofDead Man on Campus anxious and unhappy. When they stop having fun, so does the audience."[11]
Siskel and Ebert did not review the film on their show in 1998, despite the film being a major studio release.[12]
| Dead Man on Campus - Original Soundtrack | |
|---|---|
| Soundtrack album | |
| Released | August 4, 1998 |
| Genre | Alternative rock,alternative metal |
| Length | 55:27 |
| Label | DreamWorks Records |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [13] |
The film's soundtrack album was released on August 4, 1998, byDreamWorks Records. It was one of only three film soundtracks that DreamWorks Records ever released which weren't related to their parent companyDreamWorks Pictures, with the other two also being for comedy films owned byParamount Pictures (1998'sA Night at the Roxbury and 2000'sThe Ladies Man). Paramount's parent companyViacom later acquired the live-action library of DreamWorks Pictures for $1.6 billion in 2006, although DreamWorks Records itself was sold toUniversal Music Group for $100 million in 2003.
Five of the album's artists (Self,Propellerheads,Powerman 5000,Jonathan Fire*Eater andCreeper Lagoon) were all signed to DreamWorks Records at the time.[13]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Golden Years" (Marilyn Manson) | David Bowie | The Dust Brothers | 3:49 |
| 2. | "Cowboy Song" (Blur) | The Dust Brothers | 4:03 | |
| 3. | "Human" (Elastica) |
| 3:28 | |
| 4. | "We Still Need More (Than Anyone Can Give)" (Supergrass) | The Dust Brothers | 3:44 | |
| 5. | "Paint by Numbers" (Self) | Matt Mahaffey | Matt Mahaffey | 3:07 |
| 6. | "Realize (The Chemical Brothers Remix)" (The Dust Brothers) |
| 3:59 | |
| 7. | "Super Bon Bon (Propellerheads Mix)" (Soul Coughing) | David Kahne | 5:36 | |
| 8. | "Organizized" (Powerman 5000) |
|
| 3:56 |
| 9. | "Bound & Tied" (Creed) | John Kurzweg | 5:36 | |
| 10. | "Sleeper" (Audioweb) |
| 5:13 | |
| 11. | "Walking in the Dark" (Goldfinger) |
|
| 3:00 |
| 12. | "When the Curtain Calls for You" (Jonathan Fire*Eater) |
| 2:35 | |
| 13. | "Empty Ships" (Creeper Lagoon) | Ian Sefchick | John King | 3:48 |
| 14. | "I Only Want to Be with You" (Twiggy &Twiggy) |
| 3:33 |
Notes
Works byMike White | |||||
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| Television series |
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| Feature films |
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