History Film / Accepted

* OddFriendship: Bartleby the scam artist, Sherman the heavyset nerd, Hands the (former) high school football star (good enough for a college football scholarship before the career ending injury), Rory the perfectionist who was convinced she would only have to apply to Yale and would automatically be accepted based on her endless work ethic, and Glen the CloudCuckoolander were all good friends even before becoming desperate enough to start up a fake college together to fool their parents.

* PrecisionFStrike: After "Dean Lewis" explains to Bartleby's parents the [[AluminumChristmasTrees real reason kids go to college is the hopes that education will lead to a good, well paying job]] and they accept that explanation.

** Glen managing to get a 0 on the SAT test. The SAT has a minimum score of 200 for each of its two sections, which means that the lowest possible score, even if someone intentionally wrote in the wrong answer every time, is a 400. Also counts as ReadingsAreOffTheScale.

-->'''Abernathy:''' Hi there! What's your name? My name's Abernathy Darwin Dunlap but you can call me A.D.D. on the account of the fact that I have A.D.D., which is attention deficit disorder. You know -- everyone used to think it was just an addiction to sugar when I was 6 and my mom used to cry because she thought I would never be like a fully functioning member of society like my neighbor who has Legionnaires' disease. [snickers]

--> '''Rory:''' What's he doing?
--> '''Hands:''' I think he's winging it.

* IvyLeagueForEveryone: Averted. Rory emphatically did ''not'' get into Yale to which she apparently had been trying to get into ''since the first grade''. She expected to be a shoe in and hadn't applied anywhere else.

* MostWritersAreWriters: I.E., most film makers are artists. Played very straight. Whenever someone is shown being interested in a real subject (real as in not "exploding things with your mind" or the like), the subject will always be a fine or culinary art (photography, sculpting, cooking, music, etc.) It is even implied that someone (the leader of the accreditation board) who chose a non art-related career path only did so because his university took away his creativity (which turns out [[StrawmanPolitical to be right]], he wanted to play trombone.)

-->'''Sherman''': I told you that in confidence Hands!
-->'''Bartleby:''' Schrader, you were afraid when you're tooth fell out because you were terrified of the Tooth Fairy.

--> '''Girl''': Can you sign a copy of your book for me. I got it on Ebay.
--> '''Ben''': They sell my shit on Ebay?

--> '''Hands:''' He's winging it.

* ArtisticLicenseUniversityAdmissions: The whole student body of the fake school was rejected for one reason or another from legitimate universities, Schrader mentions throughout the film just how illegal and crazy their actions are. [[spoiler:In the end, it saves them, since he applied for accreditation just in case something happened.]]

* TruthInTelevision: The Dean of Harmon College says that the key to the success of a college is to get as many applicants as possible and then reject as many as possible to portray exclusivity. This might sound like evil ranting, but, unfortunately, this is actually how colleges try to make money, and it crosses into real life ParanoiaFuel .

Well, if every college has rejected them, they can make up their own, of course. With the help of Sherman (Hill), who has been accepted into the prestigious Harmon College, they make a fully-functional website for their fake school, and turn an [[AbandonedHospital abandoned mental hospital]] into a college building. They put forth Sherman's irascible uncle (Creator/LewisBlack) as the dean. Their parents are happy. Our heroes are happy.

-->-- '''Uncle Ben.'''

Bartleby Gaines (Creator/JustinLong) has a problem. His parents want him to go to college, and he has applied to every college he knows of -- but all of them have given him a polite "thanks, but no" letter in response. Bartleby is smart and innovative, two talents he has turned to such ventures as making fake [=IDs=] and pulling pranks, but which do not, sadly, [[BookDumb extend to his grades]]. His friends Rory, Glen, and Hands are in the same boat with him, but all for their own reasons. Hands, though accepted to numerous colleges, lost his football scholarship when he broke his leg and can no longer afford to attend the schools where he applied. Glen was not accepted anywhere [[CloudCuckoolander due to his score of "0" on the SAT's]]. Rory was the most academically competent of the group, and ''could'' have gotten into numerous prestigious universities, except she had ''[[CripplingOverspecialization only]]'' [[WhatAnIdiot applied to Yale, which did not accept her]]. What can they do?

Well, if every college has rejected them, they make up their own, of course. With the help of Sherman, who has been accepted into the prestigious Harmon College, they make a fully-functional website for their fake school, and turn an [[AbandonedHospital abandoned mental hospital]] into a college building. They put forth Sherman's irascible uncle (Creator/LewisBlack) as the dean. Their parents are happy. Our heroes are happy.

* ShoutOut: Doubles as a minor ActorAllusion when Bartleby mentions that anything could be done with [[Film/DodgeBall "can-do attitude and some elbow grease."]]

* WackyFratboyHijinx

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<<|{{Film}}|>>

Bartleby Gaines (Justin Long) has a problem. His parents want him to go to college, and he has applied to every college he knows of -- but all of them have given him a polite "thanks, but no" letter in response. Bartleby is smart and innovative, two talents he has turned to such ventures as making fake [=IDs=] and pulling pranks, but which do not, sadly, [[BookDumb extend to his grades]]. His friends Rory, Glen, and Hands are in the same boat with him, but all for their own reasons. Hands, though accepted to numerous colleges, lost his football scholarship when he broke his leg and can no longer afford to attend the schools where he applied. Glen was not accepted anywhere [[CloudCuckoolander due to his score of "0" on the SAT's]]. Rory was the most academically competent of the group, and ''could'' have gotten into numerous prestigious universities, except she had ''[[CripplingOverspecialization only]]'' [[WhatAnIdiot applied to Yale, which did not accept her]]. What can they do?

* SoundEffectBleep: At the end, [[spoiler:Fuck]] is beeped out, to keep it from being rated R. [[spoiler: [[BleepDammit They had already used it once, uncensored]].]]

* BlondGuysAreEvil: When Monica discovers her (blond) boyfriend is a jerk, she dumps him in favor of (brunette) Bartleby.

* ArtisticLicenseUniversityAdmissions: The whole student body of the fake school was rejected for one reason or another from legitimate universities but one of the characters mentions throughout the film just how illegal and crazy their actions are. [[spoiler:In the end, it saves them, since he applied for accreditation just in case something happened.]]

* CoolLoser: Bartleby.

* FakeRealTurn

* HighSchoolHustler: Bartleby.

* MessOnAPlate: Glen's "Wads."

* SlobsVersusSnobs

Well, if every college has rejected them, they make up their own, of course. With the help of Sherman, who has been accepted into the prestigious Harmon College, they make a fully-functional website for their fake school, and turn an [[AbandonedHospital abandoned mental hospital]] into a college building. They put forth Sherman's irascible uncle (LewisBlack) as the dean. Their parents are happy. Our heroes are happy.

!! Provides Examples Of:

* OffstageVillainy: Harmon College. The worst thing they do on-stage is haze Sherman, but we are supposed to see them as evil, close-minded, bigoted, racist, spoiled rich kids with a superiority complex.
** Trying to ruin a party out of jealousy is kind of a dickish thing to do too.
** Don't forget that one guy cheating on Monica, and even though they don't do that much that's really "evil" they still come across as assholes just from how they talk in general.
*** That was the same guy who instigated everything else. Harmon College is shown to have at least one bad student along with a few frat brothers who follow along, whereas S.H.I.T. isn't shown to have any students being anything other than lovable losers, without a hint of malice, so Harmon does look bad by comparison.
** ...and they wanted to destroy a school under false pretenses so they can build an ''entryway''.
** Not to mention they beat up Sherman to get information out of him. Then used said information to call all of their parents to the college just as they reveal to everyone that the school is a fake to add humiliation.