The fear walking into "21 & Over" was that it would mimic one of this decade's most inexcusably mean-spirited, offensively vile so-called comedies, 2012's celebration-of-depravity "Project X." Instead—and thankfully—it comes closer to reminding of a lesser, college-set variation on 2007's "Superbad," a bawdy teen comedy that sneakily hid its warm-hearted story of male friendship behind a whole lot of R-rated hijinks. Making their directorial debuts, Jon Lucas and Scott Moore (the writers of 2009's "The Hangover") try to recreate that formula, but only succeed on random, too-sparse occasions. There is some immature amusement to be had by "21 & Over," the occasional clever line of dialogue or quirky situation, but then there's the majority of time spent wallowing in stereotypes, mixed messaging, and overbearing racial insensitivity. When it tries to go all gooey, bringing guns and even the topic of suicide into the discussion, it comes off as disingenuous and manipulative.
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