Vince Vaughn: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
2. Bernard Beanie Campbell - Old School
Old School was one of the first comedies for Vince Vaughn to really hit it big (and further established Todd Phillips as an A-list comedy director, before he decided to make the Hangover three times with very little change). It was also one of the first of many collaborations between Will Ferrell and Luke Wilson as part of the USA Today-dubbed Frat Pack. What makes Beanie such a great character is the duality of being a seemingly responsible adult and wanting to party like a naive teenager.
On the one hand, he owns a business selling electronics and tends to his family dutifully enough to not want his child to hear curse words, but on the other, he devises the films central premise of having a fraternity that anyone can join so that he can get boyband amounts of ass.
It was Vinces idea to include a scene where Beanie finally gets his wish and has a young, attractive girl all over him, ready to do anything he wants, only to crumble and confess that hes married and it wouldnt be right. This sort of complexity might not appeal to the traditional audience one might expect for Old School, but it is precisely the reason the film has such an enduring legacy, and it is sold entirely by that fundamental contradiction in Vaughn's on-screen persona.