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''Dead Man on Campus'' is a 1998
black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...
film starring
Tom Everett Scott Thomas Everett Scott (born September 7, 1970) is an American actor. His film work includes a starring role as drummer Guy Patterson in the film '' That Thing You Do!'', the protagonist in '' An American Werewolf in Paris'', and notable roles i ...
and
Mark-Paul Gosselaar Mark-Paul Harry Gosselaar (; born March 1, 1974) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Zack Morris in the NBC series ''Saved by the Bell'' and both its sequel series, '' Saved by the Bell: The College Years'' and the 2020 Peacock o ...
. It centers on the
urban legend Urban legend (sometimes modern legend, urban myth, or simply legend) is a genre of folklore concerning stories about an unusual (usually scary) or humorous event that many people believe to be true but largely are not. These legends can be e ...
that a student gets straight As if his
roommate A roommate is a person with whom one shares a living facility such as a room or dormitory ''except'' when being family or romantically involved. Similar terms include dorm-mate, suite-mate, housemate, or flatmate ("flat": the usual term in Brit ...
commits
suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...
(''see''
pass by catastrophe Pass by catastrophe is an academic urban legend proposing that if some particular catastrophic event occurs, students whose performance could have been affected by the event are automatically awarded passing grades, on the grounds that there would ...
). Two failing friends attempt to find a depressed 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. It was the first film by
MTV Films MTV Entertainment Studios (formerly MTV Production Development from 2003 until 2018 and MTV Studios from 2018 until 2021) is an American film and television Film production, production and Film distribution, distribution company and is the film ...
to have an R rating. The film was shot at University of the Pacific in
Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...
.


Plot

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 thinks
Bill Gates William Henry Gates III (born October 28, 1955) is an American businessman and philanthropist. A pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s, he co-founded the software company Microsoft in 1975 with his childhood friend ...
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 singing
show tunes A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. Th ...
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.


Cast


Filming location

Scenes were shot on the campus of University of the Pacific (
Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...
),
Modesto Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the 19th-most populous city in California. Modesto is locate ...
's 7th Street Bridge, and outside the campus of
University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...
.


Reception

The film grossed $15,064,946 domestically against a $14 million budget. ''Dead Man on Campus'' received negative reviews from critics. The movie has a 15% rating on the aggregate film review site
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
based on 47 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "Not much of a story." ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' 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." The ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
''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 of ''Dead Man on Campus'' anxious and unhappy. When they stop having fun, so does the audience."


Soundtrack


See also

*
Academic grading in the United States In the United States, academic grading commonly takes on the form of five, six or seven letter grades. Traditionally, the grades are A+, A, A−, B+, B, B−, C+, C, C−, D+, D, D− and F, with A+ being the highest and F being lowest. In some ...


References


External links

* * * * {{MTV Films 1998 films 1998 black comedy films 1998 directorial debut films 1990s buddy comedy films 1990s teen comedy films American black comedy films American buddy comedy films 1990s English-language films Films about fraternities and sororities Films about suicide Films based on urban legends Films set in universities and colleges MTV Films films Paramount Pictures films Films scored by Mark Mothersbaugh Films with screenplays by Mike White (filmmaker) Films shot in California University of the Pacific (United States) 1990s American films English-language black comedy films English-language buddy comedy films