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In his latest venture, The Crusades, Milano portrays his experience as a student in a Midwest all-boys high school through a comedic lens. “The fictionalized version of Milan, Leo (Rudy Pankow), along with his friends, Sean (Khalil Everage) and Jack (Ryan Ashton), have to deal with changes in their school that would completely disrupt their groove. In an effort to postpone anticipating transpires, they set out to make Monday the worst day of their lives,” Informed a person close to the movie.
Milano, Shaun Early, and Jack Hussar worked on the script and referred to it as Superbad with a touch of class. Leo is one of the numerous characters from the gazebo that Ryan Reynolds, Joel McHale, and Jeremy Piven portray in the movies Van Wilder, Community, and Old School respectfully. He is an archetype that Ryan Reynolds exemplified in Superbad and Milano showcases it through Van Wilder. He’s troublemaking, sarcastic, and highly intelligent, always getting into issues, but never crossing the line to serious chaos.
Jack is the big, derpy clueless kid (Candy, Belushi, etc). Sean delivers the straight lines watching as the eternal sidekick. Everyone has seen these characters and there is a good explanation for that. They are relatable. As Leo watched his beautiful Italian tutor, Miss Kerpial (Anna Maiche) he developed a horrendous crush, almost bordering on obsession but it was worth it since it got him to try and learn the language just to impress her.
The blurring of good and evil makes for a good story, so it is in the Crusades where the enemy manifests in the form of a rival school, St. Matthews. With the prospect of a merger with St. Matthews looming over, Leo, Sean, and Jack have to consider whether they would now have to redefine their place in society with St. Matthews’ more powerful and aggressive boys. The general atmosphere is created by boys boasting and overhearing each other, something that is expected out of a school filled with boys. With a lack of women in their society, these boys seem to suffer from some kind of arrested development. The entire school has an obsession with Miss Kerpial who seems to be the only female adult figure.
During the weekend, our ever-charming mess of a group finds themselves dealing with different settings revolving around a house party, a few school girls, and a few ex-boyfriends who seem to be slightly psychopathic. By the time Monday arrives, they are bruised and battered, yet still thankful they are all together. Future problems concerning school and girls are still looming, however.
Pankow, Everage, and Ashton work seamlessly together. From the moment viewers lay eyes on The Crusades, they readily accept them as friends, and each one of them disturbs the audience’s suspension of disbelief with their acting in a persuasive way. Nicolas Turturro is definitely one of the best who appears here as some kind of a maniac weightlifting Coach Kreiger. This cranky Turturro has been gone for a while and it seems that he has missed his chance, but he truly devours the scenery in this performance to the tunes of the other actual good performers. The parts of the episode that include the weight room are some of the funniest ones.
In an interview with US99, Milano gave the following statement: “Growing up, I really couldn’t relate to a lot of the high school movies and the teenage movies that Hollywood put out. I do remember that during the phase, I never came across cubicles or extravagant mansion parties. And then I went to a college, and very soon figured out that my live all-boys school education was so much better than my average high school experience. I think it’s a movie for everyone, believe it or not.”
Milano speaks true. The broader the metaphor, the more precise the painted scenario becomes. The Crusades renders a moment that comes for every generation and updates it with heart, style, and a few surprises. The boys take their first steps towards thickening adulthood as the weekend slowly approaches to an end. All of the three leads as well as the entire cast perform solid piece of work. The ensemble looks and sounds great.
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