Essential NYU cinema

Normally, a phrase such as "Essential NYU Cinema" would just mean "whatever's playing at Cinema Village." Or Film Forum. Or Anthology Film Archives, if you're looking to brag. Or the Sunshine Cinema at midnight, if you're feeling naughty. Or — fuck it, let's be honest — "Gamer."

But sometimes those movies just don't get you. They grab you with their sweet promises of sociopolitical enlightenment and explicit gay sex and leave you hanging. They don't get to the bone. They never call back.

So here's a list of movies that all — in some way — know what it's like to be an NYU student. (Or at least poke suggestively at a feature of NYU student life.)

Risky Business (1983) In "Risky Business," a young Tom Cruise gets into Princeton by being a pimp and falling in love — hot, passionate, subway love — with Rebecca de Mornay. In the real world, you're going to NYU, you worked at Ben & Jerry's for a summer, and the subway is dangerous. But if you're looking to wistfully fantasize about the college admissions scenarios that could have been (a time-tested NYU pastime), you could do worse.

Revenge of the Nerds III: The Next Generation (1992) The traditional college campus movie doesn't really mesh with NYU at all — too many trees, too much athleticism, too much social interaction. There's just no such thing as "Animal Apartment." But in the second (and second most unnecessary) sequel to "Revenge of the Nerds," the nerds, once revolutionaries, have taken over campus and marginalized all jock activity, relegating anyone with healthy skin and well-developed muscles to lowly maintenance and secretarial positions. I'm not saying NYU is the Nerd Reich, but Coles is pretty far away, and NYU football T-shirts are bought as ironic accessories.

In Good Company (2004) NYU has shown its pretty purple face in plenty of films before and has always been the university of choice for interesting women in Woody Allen movies. (The men, like Peter Parker, go to Columbia.) But Hollywood has rarely skipped past the dream-school angle to represent our fine institution as it really is: terrifying. To parents, at least. And especially to those who might not own a gold-plated house in the Hamptons. "In Good Company" features workhorse dad Dennis Quaid laboring tirelessly to keep his job and his family afloat under the cruel reign of his new, young boss (Topher Grace). Quaid has a baby on the way, and when he learns that his daughter, Scarlett Johansson, might want to go to NYU, he's not exactly happy. She even ends up sleeping with Topher — business suit and all, an obvious Sternie — in her Hayden dorm room, adding inestimably to her father's grief and displeasure.

How High (2001) I was going to recommend "With Honors," the spirited 1994 comedy in which Harvard man Brendan Fraser shows kindness and generosity to the local library bum (Joe Pesci), but I realized that that movie isn't realistic at all. Even the title is silly. Instead, watch "How High," the Method Man and Redman stoner vehicle about the mythical, perhaps even miraculous powers of marijuana to end discrimination and bring a campus together. Like the Cambridge police, they even show an obvious Henry Louis Gates Jr. figure what's what.

Brazil (1985) The maelstrom of ass-backwards bureaucracy in Terry Gilliam's dystopian classic is the closest cinematic approximation of the NYU housing lottery. Bonus: Make it a double feature with "Lolita" (1962) to see how grades are curved.

Jesus Camp (2006) Sometimes it helps to think that even though you're hung over and that Nat Sci professor won't shut up about science and shit, at least he's not speaking in tongues.

LOL (2006) Ladies: Have you ever stripped in front of your sweaty boyfriend while he ignores you and chats on his MacBook Pro? In "LOL," a mumblecore movie that tries extra hard to show us how physically alienated technology has made us, that's the tone and setup of every social interaction between men and women. Though it's not the most exciting cinematic event, "LOL" is a good fit for NYU because it's an acronym, it makes compulsive texters feel like war criminals, and, strangely, it's also a pretty persuasive Apple commercial.

Deep Throat (1972) "Deep Throat" is not thematically linked to NYU in any way (well, maybe for some), but you can watch it in Bobst, alone, with headphones, in the middle of the day. What are you waiting for?

Matt Margini is pretentiousaurus.