The film stars Ryan Reynolds as the title character, alongside Tara Reid, Tim Matheson, and Paul Gleason.

[3] The film follows the misadventures of its lead character, Van Wilder, a seventh-year senior who has made it his life goal to help undergrads at Coolidge College succeed in the future.

After an article is written about his legacy by fellow student, Gwen Pearson (played by Reid), Van Wilder's party lifestyle is brought to light.

He tries various schemes to earn enough money to pay his tuition and graduate, with help from Gwen and the rest of the student body, except for a couple of sinister enemies who attempt to sabotage his efforts.

[4] Vance "Van" Wilder is a confident and sardonic seventh-year senior at Coolidge College who spends his days driving around campus in his customized golf cart, posing nude for figure drawing classes, and organizing soirees and fundraisers for his peers.

Van, who usually refuses to do interviews for the paper, realizes the article can be the "cash cow" he needs to stay in school and agrees to sit down with Gwen for a follow-up piece.

Richard arranges to sabotage Van's latest party with Jeannie, a member of a sister sorority, by smuggling children in and getting them drunk, then calling campus police to the scene.

Angered by this, Gwen pretends to forgive Richard and then spikes his protein shake with a powerful laxative just before his entrance exam to Northwestern Medical School.

Unable to hold it in any longer, Richard drops his pants and proceeds to defecate violently in a wastebasket in front of the doctors, much to their horror and disgust.

In it, she reveals his many contributions to the students and staff of Coolidge in the last seven years, his superhuman accomplishment of doing a semester's worth of studying in just six days, and Richard's plot to have him expelled.

The two-disc set also contained deleted scenes, outtakes, three Burly Bear TV specials, a Comedy Central: Reel Comedy TV special, "Bouncing Off the Walls" music video performed by Sugarcult, trailers, and other promotional material like television ads and poster art.

On November 28, 2006, in a way of promoting the sequel to Van Wilder, The Rise of Taj, Lions Gate Home Entertainment released a 2-disc special edition DVD with new bonus features including a "Drunken Idiot Kommentary" (featuring National Lampoon editors Steven Brykman and Mason Brown), behind-the-scenes footage, and interviews with the cast and crew.