“Stealing Harvard,” the newest of Tom Green’s attempts at making a great movie, is a bit of departure from his previous efforts.
That is to say, it’s good.
The movie is seen through the eyes of John Plummer (Jason Lee). He has it all: a good job at Homespital, a store that sells hospital equipment for the home, a girlfriend Elaine (Leslie Mann), who has a strange lovemaking habit, and a future father-in-law (Denis Farina), who at least pretends to approve of him..
All this changes when his niece is accepted into Harvard. Years earlier, he had told her that he would pay for her college if she got in, so now Jason is left with the dilemma of whether to spend the money on his wedding or his niece’s education.
Enter Tom Green’s character Duff, a “gardener” who creates the same kind of “art” with people’s yards as the mother on “Beetlejuice” does with sculpture. With Duff’s knowledge of ways to earn a quick buck, John and Duff go on a series of exploits to raise the money.
Possibly the funniest scene in the movie is when they rob a liquor store. They fight over possible aliases and attempt to rob the store with painted toy guns.
What follows is a series of schemes and incidents that will keep the typical Tom Green laughing. It also includes a surprise ending that alone makes the film worth seeing.