Post Grad looks like it should be stupid. Its marketing team has done nothing to emphasize the dark humor of its story, nor is its topicality to college students ever mentioned in its advertisements. Post Grad is not the happy tale of what happened to Rory Gilmore after she graduated from Yale; rather, it’s every student’s worst nightmare. Four years of college and plenty of knowledge have earned her a useless degree and a ticket back to mom and dad’s house.
Alexis Bledel, Rory of TV’s dearly departed Gilmore Girls, portrays Ryden, a recent college graduate who did everything right yet still can’t find a job after school. Her classmates all find gainful employment with Charles Schwab or publishing houses while Ryden, the patron saint of overachievers everywhere, moves back home with her eccentric family. No one would complain if their parents were Michael Keaton or Jane Lynch or if grandma was Carol Burnett. Also, what’s so bad about having a painfully hot neighbor like Love Actually’s resident dreamboat Rodrigo Santoro? Not a thing.
Bledel, who has been sorely missed since Gilmore ended, is likable and relatable as Ryden, and Keaton, Lynch, and Burnett are as offbeat and eccentric as ever. Santoro doesn’t do much acting, rather, he smolders, but no one would ever complain about such a thing.
Post Grad could do without its moralizing life lessons, but it’s certainly worth your time. Don’t judge a film by its bubblegum-pink poster.
Rating: 3/4 stars
Starring: Alexis Bledel, Michael Keaton, Jane Lynch
Directed By: Vicky Jenson
MPAA Rating: PG-13