Law Revue Video Contest: The Finalists

On Thursday we showed you the dishonorable mentions from our second annual Law Revue contest. Many of you thought that “les dishonorables” were not that bad.

Hopefully, you’ll like the finalists even better.

This year we chose seven finalists from seven different law schools. But there will be no repeat for last year’s champion, UVA Law’s Con Luv. This year, the school didn’t even submit an entry.

Without further ado, we present the seven finalists — along with commentary from your ATL editors. We each ranked the videos, 1 through 7. The entries are listed in order of worst ATL-editor-combined-score to best. Voting closes on Thursday night…

SMU-Dedman School of Law — “Law School State of Mind”

ELIE: You don’t know how much time we spent watching videos of pasty white men. After a couple of hours listening to Lat and Kash debate which flavor of vanilla was more appealing, I was pining for the Carlton dance from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Thankfully the hellish monochrome of males was ended when this very attractive woman of color showed up. I’ll admit, I didn’t pay a lot of attention to what was going on in this video. A pretty black woman was involved. Is that really too much to ask for?
KASH: The original song is so appealing that this video skated to the finals based on the curatorial tastes of its creators alone. More visual humor would have been nice though. Take your star turn in a parody music video too seriously at your peril.
LAT: A solid effort. The highlight is the gorgeous female lead — is she really a law student? — who has a fantastic voice.

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Windsor Law School — “Tell ’em They’re Your 1st Choice (Even if They’re Not)”

LAT: Very clever — Canada’s got talent! Good dancing by the guy in the grey suit. I’m a sucker for all uses of an industrial fan. (My only quibble is that it’s slightly long; about a minute could have been trimmed.)
ELIE: Canadians are naturally funny, so I expected a little bit more from this entry. Still, it was clever. My one criticism was that the advice was too wise to be funny.
KASH: Good production value. Good advice. I concur with Elie, though. It’s probably too sincere to take home the crown.

NYU Law — “Just Cram”

ELIE: Last year, I thought NYU did some great things. This year … not so much. I’ll admit, I don’t really “get” the popularity and fame of Lady Gaga. But — much like Vampire romances — I accept it exists and try to get out of the way when it comes rolling my way. Was this video funny? Accurate? Entertaining? I don’t know. Somebody wake me up when Hot Topic burns down.
KASH: I was impressed by the fidelity to the original video. Post-it dress and Highlighter costumes were great. Destruction of library an impressive feat. Lady leads are rare in these videos and it was nice to see. But the only thing that made me laugh was Lady Lawga’s sensuous shush.
LAT: So much to love in this video. The great Lady Gaga impersonation (disclosure: I worked with “Lady Gaga” when she was a paralegal before law school). The fantastic costumes, especially the post-it dress. The set design, in terms of transforming the library into a party den. And, last but not least, the cute boy in the suit sans tie.

Berkeley School of Law — “Hitler Angry About Smart 1Ls”

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LAT:Parodies built around this video footage are in wide circulation, but I have to say, this is one of the best I’ve seen. Laugh-out-loud funny, with some truly brilliant lines (which I won’t mention here so as not to spoil them; just watch).
ELIE: I don’t find Hitler jokes funny. Too soon. But if I pretend that the scene is being done by Col. Hans Landa, I can see the humor. It’s very well written.
KASH: Thank you for sparing us the pain of law student acting and singing. Let’s hope this thing doesn’t get taken down DMCA-style before our contest ends.

Columbia Law School — “It’s the Law of Crime”

ELIE: Holy God, law jokes. Actual jokes about the law! Brilliant. I loved this video. And if you watch through the end, it builds to a very a satisfyingly dark kicker. Shockingly, this video gets mad points for originality. So few law students actually seem to be able to make jokes about the substantive law.
LAT: Everything a Law Revue video should be: clever, funny, AND educational. Brilliant deployment of substantive law, reminiscent of last year’s winner, “Con Luv.” One can see the CLS legal nerd-hood shining though — in a good way.
KASH: The only submission this year to address law instead of law school. Nice job, Columbia. There’s some inherent dorkiness that pervades this video, though, that UVA’s Con Luv managed to rise above. But it’s hard to compare with America’s coolest law school.

Washington University School of Law — “L’Existence”

ELIE: Original, tragic, French, there’s a lot to like about this Midwestern entry. Anybody that credibly works Sisyphus into a law revue is a serious contender.
KASH: Clever and different, but why is the “past without memories” guy wearing a Duke sweatshirt?
LAT: Simply genius, and deeply original — unlike any other Law Revue video we saw in this competition. Who knew a black-and-white film could be so hilarious?

Northwestern School of Law — “No More I Love Yous”

LAT: Points right off the bat for using a great, under-played Annie Lennox song. More points for the ballerinas, the black-and-white to represent the pre-recession world, and the professional-quality performances by the actors (especially the lead).
ELIE: You’ve got to get past the absurd ballerinas at the beginning. After that, everything else is WIN. Big time. If nothing else, you have to wait for the sandwich. Every time I hear this Annie Lennox song, I will think of Northwestern Law and the Great Recession.
KASH: Cast is good-looking and talented. Song selection impresses. This video captures the law school zeitgeist and turns the misery into hilarity. Bravo, Wildcats.

We’ve told you what we think. Vote in the poll below to crown the best Law Revue video of 2010.

UPDATE: The contest is over. Check out the winner here.

Vote!