College may have been the best years of your life if you were a Phi Mu at the University of Georgia, a devoted member of Vanderbilt’s Kappa Alpha Theta, living large at Delta Delta Delta’s luxurious pad at Louisiana State University, or any of the other sororities that make a campus feel like home. Sororities aren’t just campus housing (although you can’t blame someone for wanting to move into the Chi Omega mansion at the University of Missouri), but instead are a chosen family with a network of sisters that extends across the country, if not the world. While college only last four years, the kinship of a sorority lasts a lifetime.
Luckily, it’s easy to relive your glory days in between reunions with your sorority sisters thanks to the portrayals of Greek life that end up on television and movies. While there is a long Hollywood tradition of using sorority houses as the setting for horror stories (Scream Queens or The House on Sorority Row, for starters), but you can save those for your next late night sleep over (if you dare). Instead, we’re looking at some of the funniest and most fun films and TV shows to ever go Greek.
Legally Blonde
Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon) is a Delta Nu legend. She ran a tight ship as president of the sorority and knew how to engage her sisters and was an all-around effective leader. While many people scoffed when the fashion merchandising student set her mind on going to Harvard Law School, her sorority sisters weren’t the least bit surprised when she got in. Woods did the Delta Nu’s proud by working hard, keeping a positive attitude, and using her fashion sense to help solve a murder.
Monsters University
When Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) enroll at Monsters University, they are quickly smitten with college life and the Greek organizations on campus and with names like Roar Omega Roar (RΩR) and Slugma Slugma Kappa (EEK), can you blame them? They quickly find a home at with the ragtag and good-natured brothers of Oozma Kappa (OK). Mike and Sully bond with the band of misfits and soon help them make it through Monster U’s Scaring Program and earn a spot in the annual Scare Games.
Greek
The beloved ABC Family series was set at the fictitious Ohio school, Cyprus-Rhodes University (CRU). Spencer Grammer starred as Casey Cartwright, who is trying to balance life in a sorority, her final years at college, her love life, and helping her kinda nerdy little brother Rusty (Jacob Zachar) navigate the Greek system. Luckily her Zeta Beta Zeta sisters were there to help her through it all.
Sydney White
What’s not to love about a re-telling of the Snow White story set in a sorority? When Sydney White (Amanda Bynes) arrives at Southern Atlantic University, all she wants to do is join her belated mother’s sorority. However, her mother’s sorority house has been taken over by an evil witch of a president, Rachel Witchburn (Sara Paxton) who banishes to the house of the “seven dorks”. Rachel’s scheming doesn’t end there, though, and soon Sydney has to team up with her housemates to save their home, the school, and maybe find love along the way.
Pitch Perfect
The Barden Bellas weren’t specifically part of the Greek system, but the acapella singing group acted like a sorority—they recruited members, there was an intense, candle-lit initiation, they wore matching outfits for special occasions, had their own lingo, and they put the good of their group and their sisterhood first. When trouble hit and the Acapella Collegiate Organization pulled them from their tour and stripped them of their title, they stuck together, and came out on top with style.
Stomp the Yard
DJ (Columbus Short) leaves Los Angeles to attend Atlanta’s fictional Truth University. At first he struggles to fit in on campus, but when everyone sees his impressive dance moves, he soon finds himself as the hottest commodity on campus. Rival fraternities battle it out to get him to join so they can have him on their team in the upcoming dance competition. Dancing just might be DJ’s second love, though, as he pursues April (Meagan Good), despite the fact that she already has a boyfriend. Of course, her boyfriend’s dance moves can’t hold a candle to DJ’s swagger.
Neighbors and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising
Mac and Kelly Radner (Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne) have the perfect little home for their growing family, but that all changes when the Delta Psi Beta fraternity moves in next door and throws all-night ragers. They try to make friends with the frat brothers and their president Teddy (Zac Efron), but it quickly erupts into a full-scale prank war. They eventually reach a détente, which is useful in Neighbors 2 when the Kappa Nu sorority moves in and threatens the sale of their home. The Radners only hope is Teddy.
Sorority Wars
Katie (Lucy Hale) and Sara (Phoebe Strole) have been BFFs since childhood, so of course they both want to be in the same sorority, Delta, which just so happened to be founded by Katie’s mother (Courtney Thorne-Smith). The battle begins after a disastrous pledge week that left Sara as a Delta, while Katie joined the rival Kappa house. Needless to say, Katie’s mother is not happy about the turn of events and a full-blown war erupts on campus as the sororities vie for the Tri-Crown Prize.
Sorority Boys
When misogynist frat boys Dave (Barry Watson), Adam (Michael Rosenbaum), and Doofer (Harland Williams) find themselves accused of a crime and expelled from their frat house, they decide their only option to stay on campus is to —wait for it—join a sorority. They roll up to Delta Omicron Gamma (or D.O.G.) as Daisy, Adena, and Roberta eager to join a sorority and just maybe find the real criminals and something about themselves, too. This movie is best viewed as a prequel to the Tom Hanks sitcom Bosom Buddies.
Old School
When a group of men hit the sweet spot between mid-life crises and failed relationships they realize there is only one option—start a fraternity and re-live their glory days. Luke Wilson, Will Ferrell, and Vince Vaughn star as the full-grown adults who throwdown with college kids at their newly-formed frat house, aggravating the college’s dean (Jeremy Piven). After a series of wild parties, the dean exacts his revenge and, as per usual, the frat must band together or risk expulsion or, worse, being forced to go back to their real adult lives.
National Lampoon’s Animal House
Would any story about Greek life be complete without a nod to the granddaddy of all frat films Animal House? Nope! The men of the Delta Tau Chi fraternity set the bar very high (or perhaps, low) with their infamously debauched parties. They have no problem being on double secret probation or plotting to ruin the homecoming parade or destroying their house on a nightly basis in the name of a good time. All they want is to have fun, fun, fun and maybe save their house from getting its charter revoked.
