Animal House (1978)

If I were marooned on a desert island, with a somehow, miraculously functioning DVD player, and could have only five movies to watch as I whiled away my days, dying of hunger and thirst, "Animal House" would definitely be one of them.

"Animal House" is, literally, sophomoric, but in the best way possible. You have two glaringly different fraternities - one filled with uptight, over-privileged, ass-kissing politician types, the other filled with overgrown boys who live to party and don't plan anything beyond the next second - and a Dean who wants the slackers OUT. Many frat house-themed movies have come after - "Revenge of the Nerds" comes to mind - but none hold a candle to this classic.

And here's why it wins:

There is some nudity and sexual content, but it's just the right amount (unlike "Revenge of the Nerds").

The casting is inspired. I can't think of one actor who isn't absolutely perfect in his or her role. Tom Hulce as Larry Kroger, aka "Pinto," and Stephen Furst as Kent Dorfman, aka "Flounder" ("May I have 10,000 marbles please?"); Bruce McGill as Daniel Simpson Day; Tim Matheson as Eric Stratton, shameless womanizer; Mark Metcalf as Doug Neidermeyer ("What is that? A pledge pin? On your uniform??"); John Vernon as Dean Wormer ("Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son"); Kevin Bacon as Chip Diller ("Thank you, sir! May I have another?"); Donald Sutherland as a rumpled, burnt-out professor smoking weed with his students; and, of course, John Belushi as John Blutarski. To name a few.

It's the absolute perfect length. There isn't one scene that goes too long - not one that you are tempted to fast-forward through to get to something better. It's all better.

There are no toilet jokes (think "Dumb & Dumber"), no homophobic humor (think "Meatballs"), no swearing that I can recall (save for Blutarski bellowing "Holy shit! Holy shit!" when Flounder accidentally kills Neidermeyer's prized horse).

The frat is eventually shut down and the lackluster students expelled. Their go-to response? Do something utterly stupid and pointless. Their revenge is epic because it is the one thing they actually apply themselves to!