PCU (1994)
A time capsule movie that is still very enjoyable to watch and remember how much hasn't changed in our culture
PCU is the story of a rebellion that becomes a revolution. A rebellion is an attempt to seize power by force or influence. A revolution replaces the old ideas with a new order. Rebellions are nebulae for occasional revolutions, but most gather dust in outer space and never become shining stars. This film is a shining star from the 1990s because it is as relevant today as it was then, with irreverent humor that hides truths about the forces hacking at the Halls of Democracy. They are still at it nearly thirty years after this film was published. I first watched this movie on VHS rental from Blockbuster Video.
PCU is a story that shames white supremacy while eschewing the angry hordes pointing fingers at one another. At the same time, the Republicans gerrymander reality and bend the rules towards their profit and power by inciting conflict between marginalized groups of self-identified, morally superior know-it-alls who like to fight. Like Idiocracy (2006), which marked the moment of America’s intellectual decline, PCU is a crack in our commitment to the Common Good that eventually leads to Idiocracy. 1994 was a year of accelerating the American factional divide, where we each started looking at each other through a lens of self-attributing victimhood.
But PCU is ultimately a double-pronged fairy tale love story where everything works out, and a new love is born while an old love is rekindled. Instead of constantly bickering about who has suffered most, the students of Port Chester University find a new place to put that energy that used to fill their anger. Now, instead, they dance together to the common beat, which is our music. Good God, some of us Gen Xers believed music would save our souls!
PCU is a story about throwing a party at the end of the world when all hope is lost. Put on those old jams or make some new ones, and when the music’s over, turn out the light. PCU is a story of justice, where the conniving white supremacist pulling strings of trauma and anger ends up running for his life from the angry hordes of people finally fed up with being fed up with the wrong people. It’s a story about looking at the real problem and pointing that fucking finger at ourselves. Then, there is movement in the crowd as it pursues a vengeance that has frightened every dictator in human history when the crowd finally gathers to come for them.
The villain in PCU is Rand McPherson, and if he had less of a moral center with a landing surface, he could be a 2020s Republican. Mostly, he’s just a snarky asshole who was tired of being bullied, so he started fighting back in the only way his family knows - money and influence deployed to manipulate. And he’s hilarious and about as politically incorrect as our hero in this film, James “Droz” Andrews. McPherson’s obsession is regaining the lovely fraternity house they once populated but lost when fraternities were outlawed on campus, the one now populated by the slobs and artists from The Pit, a rag-tag group of non-conformists led by this seventh-year senior who never wants to grow up. Rand’s obsession drives the drama that evokes the party that restores balance and sanity to the campus. It’s basically Star Wars with beer bongs and frisbee golf instead of lightsabers and pew pew.
PCU is ornery. It’s funny. It’s deeply human for a movie brave enough to let every character have their say and then make fun of them for wanting to have their say in the first place. Nothing is more Generation X than the ridicule tax we put on each other whenever we sense someone else caring too much about anything, especially themselves. “Oh, you like that? Well, I think it fucking sucks!” That was my generation, though I never shared that contempt for others' passions. When it comes to PCU, I love this movie and I always will.
PCU (1994)
Directed by Hart Bochner
Written by Ada Leff & Zak Penn
Producer: Paul Schiff
Technical Details:
79 minutes
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Budget: $8M
Current Gross (5/29/24): $4.3M
