Van Wilder: Freshman Year

Van Wilder arrives at Coolidge College intending to carry on his family's tradition at the school, where a building bears his name and portraits of earlier Wilder graduates hang. He finds the place transformed: under Dean Charles Reardon, Coolidge has become a strict, religious-minded institution with harsh rules against drinking, parties and sex. Van sets out to restore the campus's rowdy reputation and free its students from the dean's restrictions. The story follows his freshman year, his pursuit of Kaitlin, and his clashes with the school's authorities. It is the fourth film in the Van Wilder series and a prequel, showing the character's earliest days at college.

The film was directed by Harvey Glazer from a screenplay by David Wagner, Brent Goldberg and Todd McCullough. Jonathan Bennett plays Van Wilder, with Kristin Cavallari as Kaitlin and Kurt Fuller as Dean Reardon. Steve Talley, Nestor Aaron Absera and Nick Nicotera appear among the credited cast of 36. The production had a budget of 6 million USD and was released on June 2, 2009, running 100 minutes.

Audience response has been modest: on IMDb it holds a rating of 5.1 out of 10 from roughly 16,000 votes, and on TMDB it scores 5.4 out of 10 from around 354 votes. The small number of TMDB votes compared with IMDb indicates a much narrower audience base there.