There are no great surprises in the execution of Accepted, the slacker underdog comedy about the education system. The plot is so paint-by-numbers, in fact, that you can telegraph Bartleby Gaines’ (Justin Long) rallying speech in the third act from a mile away. But somewhere along the line, somebody put enough fresh ingredients into the same old formula to make the movie memorable.

Inundated by queries about what he’s doing with his life after high school graduation and bereft of an acceptance letter from any of the half dozen colleges he applied to, Bartleby decides to make up his own school, the South Harmon Institute of Technology, just to get his parents off his back for a while. He has best friend Sherman (Jonah Hill) create a website for the fake alma mater, just to make it all seem legitimate, and leases and reoutfits an abandoned mental hospital to get away from the pressure of home life. The plan hits a bump in the road, though, when hundreds of kids from around the country, also rejected from all their collegiate options, find the website and are accepted to the phony school. Along the way dealing with these unwanted freshmen, Bartleby and his friends learn what they really want out of a college education.

Accepted’s true charm is not in its jokes, though they’re often clever; or in its “success from the edge of society” angle, which has been told just as well in movies like Angus. Where the film succeeds most is in the chemistry between its characters. Long has just the right sleazy charm to pull off the role and Hill has near-perfect comic timing. Side characters like Adam Herschman, who adds a new spin on stoner stupidity as Glen, and Lewis Black, who adlibs his twisted thoughts on the education system, are great additions to the cast.

The film preaches originality of thought, and so its message is lost just a bit in the fact that the comedic frame is so predictable. But the the earnestness of the film is just enough of an edge to overcome that flaw, and the jokes are never so raunchy (like something out of National Lampoons or the American Pie series) that they overshadow the little nugget of message. So, while Accepted may never make it into the upper echelon of the rowdy college comedy, it certainly does enough to warrant a school of its own.

Rating: * * * of 5

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