4. Syracuse University College of Law — In One Ear
LAT: This might be the weirdest, most creative Law Revue entry since Northwestern’s No More I Love You’s (our 2010 contest winner). It’s visually interesting and arresting — beautiful, really. To fully appreciate its genius, watch the video for the original song, In One Ear by Cage the Elephant.
STACI: Stop everything you’re doing and VOTE FOR SYRACUSE LAW, right now. As much as I loved the rest of this year’s finalists, Syracuse stole the show. This song was on a playlist that I listened to while techciting during law school. The singing is on point, and I seem to recall this girl starring in last year’s submission from Syracuse. I appreciate that it must have taken forever to paint your face like that. I also appreciated Mr. #PrurientInterest. I’m a firm believer in the message this video conveys: rankings aren’t everything. Let’s give Syracuse credit where it’s so obviously due, and hand them the win.
JOE: Justice Roboto cameo! I remain Above the Law’s biggest fan of George Washington’s unapologetically absurdist saga of the Supreme Court’s mechanical justice, so Syracuse had me right there. Add in a concept of disrespect that is tailor-made for a, let’s say, “not top-tier” law school and a video that does recognizable justice to the original without coming off as a poor facsimile, and they cruised into the finals.
KATHRYN: Props to all the students slaving away at lower-ranked law schools. They’re grinding away and this video rails against the system of elitism that tries to keep them down. Also, bonus points for the Mr. Show reference (plus, the Naked Cowboy).
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5. University of Texas School of Law — I’m Not Hiring You
LAT: Our 2016 winner returns to the finals with this cute and charming offering, a Taylor Swift parody containing nice T14 humor. (Congrats, UT — you are now T14!)
STACI: Hey, Texas, remember that time you iced me in the mail? How about this time you do it again, but we’ll call it a celebratory drink? If Syracuse doesn’t come out on top, I’d like nothing better than if Texas were to win this year’s contest. This video was super cute, the singing was great, and come on, who doesn’t love Taylor Swift? I liked this one a lot.
JOE: This is a well-performed, perfectly solid entry. That said, it seemed pretty up-the-gut, while some of the other videos take more chances or stretch a little more. That’s not to say I didn’t like it, just that it struck me as the bottom of the finalists, which is kind of meta for #14 Texas.
KATHRYN: The very best was the subtle Georgetown dig (read the captioning) about falling out of the T14 this year. And prostitution seems like a reasonable alternative to Biglaw life.
6. UVA Law — Back Row Ballers
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LAT: A constant contender in this contest, UVA turns in this superbly well-executed parody of the Saturday Night Live skit, Back Home Ballers. Fun costumes, good lyrics, and solid choreography, plus professorial cameos and ATL shout-outs (plural). Nice!
STACI: This video was really awesome; so awesome, in fact, that when we were taking notes about what we thought about the videos while judging law revue entries, this is what I wrote: “Funny, great rapping, so good, awesome, fantastic, LOL, OMG, awesome ATL shout-out, insert more adjectives about awesomeness here.” If you couldn’t tell, I thought this was awesome.
JOE: Here’s another well-worn concept performed excellently. We’ve seen “3Ls are lazy drunks” a million times already. But if someone can take that old concept and do some fun stuff with it — distinctive characters, full cast choreography, etc., it can make the cut.
KATHRYN: I feel that back row baller life. Way to make me feel nostalgic for 3L year. Word to the wise — you’ll crash back to reality once you start your exciting new life in Biglaw.
It’s time to vote, everyone. Polls close on THURSDAY, APRIL 27, at 11:59 PM (EST). Feel free to get out the vote among your friends and family (but please, no bots or other forms of cheating — character and fitness doesn’t look kindly on that). Good luck to all the finalists!
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Earlier: Law Revue Video Contest 2017: Dishonorable Mentions
ATL’s 9th Annual Law Revue Video Contest