21 & Over is a 2013 comedy film written and directed by Jon Lucas and Scott Moore, starring Miles Teller, Skylar Astin, Justin Chon, and Sarah Wright.
When straight-A college student Jeff Chang (Chon) is taken out for his 21st birthday by his best friends Miller (Teller) and Casey (Astin) on the night before an important medical school interview, what was supposed to be a quick beer becomes a night of humiliation, over indulgence and utter debauchery.
Tropes:
- Abusive Parents: Jeff Chang's. When Jeff stands up for himself, he declares his son a "Useless shit" that he can't believe is his son and tries to force him to go to the interview.
- Alcohol-Induced Idiocy: The whole premise...
- All for Nothing: Subversion. Miller and Casey spent the whole movie trying to get Jeff home to be ready for his big interview in the morning, but along the way, they find out Jeff had nearly killed himself while hopped up on medicine meant to keep him awake after being sleep deprived for 72 hours, and the rest of the campus think he's a psycho who tried to shoot someone else. When they get him home, he admits he can't go through with the med-school interview since his classes are the reason he's so miserable, and can't bring himself to tell his dad. The night gives Casey and Miller the knowledge they need to give him the courage to stand up for himself.
- Asian and Nerdy: Subverted with Jeff - he is a pretty smart guy but has no desire to follow in his doctor father's footsteps and little interest in science.
- Bait the Dog: Throughout the movie Jeff Chang's dad has been put through a Parents as People perspective where he seems like he's just trying to ensure his son has a fulfilling life. Then when Jeff admits he can't go to the interview and is not happy (or healthy) in college, he admits that he was wrong...Mr. Chang: You're even dumber than I thought.
- The Big Damn Kiss: Casey and Nicole share a kiss at the end, and become a couple.
- Bloody Hilarious: The dart Jeff Chang accidentally threw into a frat boy's cheek.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The dancing old man (that the guys nickname "Chief"). Not only was he the one person who knew where Jeff lived as he was dancing in front his apartment but at the end, turns out to be the one giving Miller's job interview.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: The fat man at the top of the stairs challenge (It Makes Sense in Context) with an afro, beads and a diaper.
- Cluster F-Bomb: There's close to 150 uses of the F-word, and the film runs for less than an hour and a half if you don't include the credits, so yeah, it's used almost constantly along with a lot of other swear words.
- Coming of Age Story: All three guys have moments that help them realize that they need to take better care of themselves.
- Miller realizes that he truly is Brilliant, but Lazy and that he should enroll in college.
- Casey comes to term with the fact that he shouldn't rush into adulthood so quickly or else he'd be miserable, and gets the girl of his dreams.
- Jeff gets the best of them all. His father forced him to quit his passions and become a medical student, but quickly his life spirals out of control, taking too many medicines to help him function, resulting in him nearly taking his own life in a drug haze. While he didn't die, he became a pariah in the school for people thinking he was a psycho. Casey and Miller tell him point blank that if he doesn't stand up for himself, things won't get better.
- Extremely Short Time Span: Most of the film takes place over 24 hours or so, which is no surprise since the films that it mimics the formula of use this trope to some extent or another as well.
- Full-Name Basis: Miller and Casey refer to Jeff Chang exclusively in this way.
- Girl on Girl Is Hot: Miller expresses this view when he manages to get a pair of sorority girls to make out with each other.
- How We Got Here: The movie starts with Miller and Casey naked with only a sock covering their junk walking through campus during the early morning, agreeing to never speak of the previous night's events ever again.
- Love Epiphany: Casey realises that he wants to be with Nicole, and runs to her house. He's devastated when he thinks he missed her by seconds; fortunately it was only her roommate borrowing her car.
- Mushroom Samba: The dancing old man (that the guys nickname "Chief") is revealed to be tripping on two sheets of LSD.
- Noodle Incident: Too many to list...
- Now or Never Kiss: Casey pulls one on Nicole, who is about to go on a journey to South America. Because of this, she stays with him.
- Sinister Sorority Sisters: Played with. Miller and Casey find an initiation going on at the sorority house, in which Miller participates. Upon discovering this, the vengeful Latina sisters track him down and kidnap him and Casey, humiliating them in a drawn-out ritual.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: Miller.
- The Slacker: Miller.
- Spicy Latina: The Latina sorority sisters are aggressive and track Casey and Jeff down for revenge.
- The Unreveal: Randy, Nicole's Jerkass ex, comes to Jeff's house and starts trashing it. He has numerous reasons to be pissed off at Jeff, Casey and Miller, but when they list all the possible reasons he denies them all. We never get to find out what the real reason is, because that's when Jeff's father shows up. Randy stupidly picks a fight with him and gets his ass kicked. After Jeff stands up to his father and he leaves, Randy ends up hugging it out with Jeff and leaving himself.
- Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Jeff vomits and passes out after way too many drinks.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: Deconstructed. Jeff went into college to become a doctor like his dad, not really out of admiration but so he'd make the guy happy. To say he was miserable was an understatement. And when he decides to tell his dad that he doesn't want anything to do with medicine or science, his father attempts to strong arm him into going anyway. All this does is make Jeff disown his dad.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: At Jeff's old apartment, the guys have to do the "Tower of Power" to get to the top floor. After 8 drunk games, they get there, and the guy gives them the main prize...Gold Beads. Miller gives him a "Reason You Suck" Speech over this.Miller: I get all the way to top floor, I'm all excited at getting to the top floor, and what do I get? A baby, wizard Elvis with gold beads.
