Film critic Roger Ebert liked at least one thing about the 2002 comedy Sorority Boys. “That is the title,” he wrote. “Pause by the poster on the way into the theater. That will be your high point.”

Ebert was no fan of dumb, lowbrow comedy, with a few notable exceptions. Just ask Rob Schneider, who started a spiteful feud with the critic over his brutal reviews.

But Ebert was a sweetheart to Schneider in comparison to his take on Sorority Boys, a comedy he called “a brainless autopilot sitcom ripoff.” The film’s simple plot does sound like an episode of Tom Hanks’ Bosom Buddies: “A group of college boys dress up as girls to prove their innocence for a crime they did not commit.”

Play

A sitcom episode would have been a step up, Ebert wrote. “What is unusual about Sorority Boys is how it caves in to the...