Although 2006’s Accepted was a critical and commercial flop upon its original release, the college comedy’s arrival in the Netflix top 10 proves that the movie has its admirers. Released in August 2006, Accepted is a college comedy that follows Justin Long’s Bartleby, a slacker who fails to gain entry into college after his high school graduation.
Worried about how his parents will react and unsure of his future, Bartleby creates an elaborate fake university with the help of his friends, a mismatched group of misfits. Although Jonah Hill’s Sherman did get into a prestigious college, he still assists his best friend with the deceitful plan, and wacky shenanigans soon ensue.
As the high school graduates attempt to promote and run their fake college, the plan soon reveals that the group has unexpected depths and skills that they hadn’t expected. Similarly, despite receiving a frosty critical reception back in 2006, Accepted’s cult classic status was verified in early 2026 when the movie hit Netflix’s most-watched streaming chart.
Accepted Was A Critical And Box Office Flop In 2006
When Accepted was released, numerous critics were quick to call the plot’s premise ironic, since they argued that the movie failed to reach its own potential, much like its underdog heroes failed to reach theirs. The critical failure of Accepted was only compounded by a poor box office performance, as the movie made only $36 million on a budget of $23 million.
Although there are plenty of college comedies with raunchier content, more original plots, and stronger acting, Accepted still managed to redeem its poor reputation in recent years. This is due in part to the movie’s impressive cast, who have gone from strength to strength in the years since the movie’s release.
Shortly after Accepted, the actor who plays Long’s love interest, Monica, Blake Lively, was cast in Gossip Girl, and Lively went on to become a major Hollywood star. Although his career was plagued by controversy in 2023, Hill became a major comedy in the years after Accepted’s release thanks to roles in Superbad and Get Him to the Greek.
The 21 Jump Street franchise made Hill a legitimate blockbuster star, while The Wolf of Wall Street and Moneyball proved he had serious dramatic chops. Long was already a major star when Accepted was released, having appeared in cult classics like Jeepers Keepers and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, but his presence makes the movie even more of a quintessential ‘00s comedy.
Accepted’s Box Office Failure Changed Hollywood Comedy History
Although Accepted might be beloved by Netflix viewers in 2026, the failure of the movie upon its original release had pretty huge implications for the future of American comedy cinema. At the time of Accepted’s release, R-rated, mature comedies were out, and most major studio comedies were rated PG-13 or lower.
Many major hits from the era, including Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy, Mean Girls, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, the Austin Powers movies, and most of Adam Sandler’s output, avoided the dreaded R-rating. R-rated comedies were rarer and typically had lower budgets, like Long’s earlier movie Waiting…, or Clerks 2.
The rare big-budget R-rated comedies of the era tended to be box office failures, like Tenacious D in the Pick of Destiny. However, the seeds of change had already been sown before the failure of Accepted when Judd Apatow’s 2005 hit The Forty-Year-Old Virgin made a staggering $177 million on a budget of only $26 million.
The combination of Accepted’s high-profile failure and The Forty-Year-Old Virgin’s unexpected success prompted a change in which comedies received funding, and Hollywood’s comedic output became much more reliably R-rated in the late ‘00s. Accepted’s underperformance prompted a move away from safer PG-13-rated comedies toward the R-rated Apatow era.
Superbad and Knocked Up both arrived a year later to huge box office success, and these hits were followed by Pineapple Express, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Tropic Thunder, Step Brothers, Bridesmaids, and a whole slew of other successful R-rated comedies. Although PG-13 comedies still existed, like Drillbit Taylor and I Love You, Beth Cooper, they were often criticized for feeling toothless and outdated.
Accepted’s Netflix Success Highlights A New Trend
The unexpected streaming success of Accepted highlights a recent, thoroughly unexpected entertainment trend, namely a nostalgia for the aesthetic of early ’00s comedy. While Netflix’s other recent hit, 2 Broke Girls, was a 2010s sitcom, there is plenty of evidence that viewers want to return to the recognizable style of early ‘00s Hollywood comedy movies.
From the Mean Girls musical remake released in 2024, to movies that model their style and tone after early ‘00s comedies like Snack Shack and Bottoms, to the return of the Scary Movie franchise, there are numerous examples of audiences actively seeking out a return to early ‘00s Hollywood comedy. Thus, the unexpected Netflix success of Accepted might not be so surprising in this context.
This story originally appeared on Screenrant
