mraculeated The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

SnoopyStyle Harold Lamb (Harold Lloyd) has always dreamed of going to college. He is excited to be a freshman at Tate University. Upon arrival, the upper classmen led by The College Cad prank Harold. He is humiliated until he start imitating his movie hero gaining the nickname Speedy. Unbeknownst to him, The College Cad continues his campaign to make Harold a joke. Everybody starts laughing at him behind his back except Peggy. He tries out for football but is relegated to replace the tackling dummy. Despite that, he is thrilled to be on the team and his never-quit attitude ends up winning the big game.This is Harold Lloyd's on-screen persona at its purest goodness. It is Rudy and Forrest rolled into one. He is wide-eyed and optimistic. He is the underdog and the good guy. He is the movie hero that everybody roots for. I certainly understand why this is his breakout role and his big movie hit. My only concern is the football game. I know rules have changed over the years but there are a lot of things wrong with that game.

framptonhollis Always a big fan of silent slapstick, and having seen Harold Lloyd's excellent 1923 iconic comedy classic 'Safety Last!' many times over the years, I did have somewhat high hopes going into this, especially since I'd heard before that it's among his best films and was released on the prestigious Criterion Collection a few years back, which is more often than not a good sign. Well, apparently my high hopes could've been much higher and still would have been surpassed! This is one of the most fun and genuinely positive movies I have seen in a while! Hardly do I ever call a movie "inspiring", but this movie is unexpectedly just that. It is also extremely funny throughout, and is extremely well structured, as each slapstick set piece gets increasingly higher scale as the film goes on, culminating in an extremely memorable football-themed finale that actually made me audibly gasp at one point. Seriously, this movie is hugely affecting. It is also super sweet and the romantic elements are on par w/a film like 'The Gold Rush' or 'City Lights', most silent slapstick comedies have some bits of romance attached, but few execute said romance in a way nearly as memorably and just generally skillfully as this film does. It's a legitimately lovely and heartwarming movie, and none of that overshadows the constant and consistent flow of humor. It's a genuine audience pleaser, and is admittedly somewhat predictable but is so damn likable, or should I say LOVABLE, that I see no problem in its predictability. Few films have made me so elated honestly.

SmileysWorld Harold Lloyd was a master of action driven silent comedies,but he is also one of the most underrated actors in cinema history,and probably should have at least been considered for an Oscar or two,but as we all know,comedy is the most ignored and neglected genre of film in cinema history when it comes to awards.The thing that stands out about The Freshman is that the beginning of the film relies a little less on Lloyd's talent for sight gags and focuses more on the development of his character.He does a great job of getting us to like his character and care about what happens to him.When you see him get emotional over learning that he has,in fact,been made a fool of by those who made him feel as though he were the most popular man on campus,you want to get emotional with him.The sight gags are still there,though to a lesser degree,and they are as hysterical as ever.

Cyke 035: The Freshman (1925) - released 9/20/1925, viewed 2/7/06.BIRTHS: Peter Sellers, Boris Tchaikovski.DOUG: Our Harold Lloyd festival powers on with another silent comedy classic, The Freshman, not to be confused with the 1990 Matthew Broderick/Marlon Brando comedy of the same name. Lloyd brings his all-star team with him, including director Fred C. Newmeyer and leading lady Jobyna Ralston. Lloyd plays a college freshman on a mission to be the coolest cad on campus, which he goes about by emulating his movie heroes and the other popular students. His flashy antics are not as welcome as he thinks. He soon finds that real popularity doesn't come from the approval of others, and goes on to become the most popular student anyway by winning the Big Football Game. In one hilarious scene, Harold's tailor has gotten drunk and left his suit with flimsy stitching, causing the suit to fall apart in every conceivable way during the course of the party. There's a very tender scene where Peggy (Ralston) comforts Harold after he has been humiliated at said party by the other students, and Ralston shows herself to be Lloyd's best leading lady. If this film has any root in reality, then I must say I was surprised that there was a time when college students really dressed like that, with those sweatshirts and striped hats that no college student today would be caught dead in. The trademark stunt-filled finale is a frenetic sequence where Harold must rescue his football team at the Big Game, resorting to any trick he can think of to give his opponents the slip, and finally clenching hilarious victory with the closest call imaginable.KEVIN: Our third Harold Lloyd flick would have fallen between The Phantom of the Opera and Eisenstein's Potemkin. This time Lloyd plays a dork trying to be cool when he heads off to college. There are some painfully funny beats in this film, such as when he tries out for the football team and they make him the charging dummy. There is also the most inspired piece of comedy where he has to go to a party with a haplessly stitched suit, which comes apart at every seam in every way, until everything comes off in nightmarish fashion. My favorite scene in this film is an emotional scene for a change. When Harold finds out what everyone really thinks of him, he tries to shrug it off and pretend he doesn't care, until he breaks down into the arms of his only real fan, the lovely Peggy (Jobyna Ralston), who encourages him to show everyone what he's really made of. I liked that because at that point he's not doing stupid things to impress the girl anymore. She becomes his inspiration rather than his objective. The fast-paced and gag-filled finale is one of Lloyd's best.Last film viewed: Girl Shy (1924). Last film chronologically: The Phantom of the Opera (1925). Next film viewed: For Heaven's Sake (1926). Next film chronologically: The Big Parade (1925).The Movie Odyssey is an exhaustive, chronological project where we watch as many milestone films as possible, starting with D.W. Griffith's Intolerance in 1916 and working our way through, year by year, one film at a time. We also write a short review for each film before we watch the next, never reading the other's review before we finish our own. In this project, we hope to gain a deeper understanding of the time period, the films of the era, and each film in context, while at the same time just watching a lot of great movies, most of which we never would have watched otherwise.