An 89-year-old man suffers a fatal heart attack in a paddling pool of KY jelly while limbering up for a wrestling bout with two topless college girls.

No, it's not art... it's exactly what you might expect from the mind of Todd Phillips, the man who brought the world Road Trip.

This would be just another frat boy, gross out comedy but for the fact it features a couple of stars who a) Are funny and b) Can act.

Vince Vaughn shared writing and acting credits for the sublime Swingers while Luke Wilson proved his mettle with Legally Blonde.

Together with Will Ferrell they play Beanie, Mitch and Frank, three thirty-somethings who regress to college days when faced with the responsibilities of adult life.

To this end, they form a fraternity made up of various ne'er do wells, including an obese teenager and Blue, the geriatric who met an untimely death in two inches of lubricant.

However, college dean Gordon Pritchard (Jeremy Piven), who was bullied by the trio at school, is determined they won't succeed.

The novelty is that three men hurtling towards middle age would want to desert their new wives and kids to head back to their teens.

Inevitably, there are the usual party scenes featuring squadrons of nubiles, drunken party games and a rap set by Snoop Dogg.

Early on, there's also a hilarious wedding reception featuring a lounge band who churn out a wonderful expletive-laden Total Eclipse of the Heart.

To be honest, Vaughn and Wilson deserve better than this, a comedy that finds itself slipping into the hackneyed straightjacket of the genre pretty quickly.

Even so, there's enough on offer to convince even the converted they are watching something with a twist on the original template.

Tim Evans