The new frathouse comedy “College” peaks early — way early. The film’s opening credits pack all the ingenuity you’ll find in this slob comedy.

The credits are printed out on various college-type material – a blue book here, the sweet spot of a co-ed’s back there, and we’re psyched for a DVD sleeper.

Then, unfortunately, the story begins.

Three high schoolers — think “Superbad’s” skinny kid, fat kid and McLovin – spend the weekend at the local university to try college life on for size.

Oh, and the least annoying of the trio (Drake Bell) wants to show his new ex that he can let loose with the best of ‘em. The overstuffed one (Andrew Caldwell) is instantly grating, which makes you appreciate Seann William Scott’s Stifler from the infinitely superior “PIe” movies all the more.

Imagine stale gags from “Animal House,” “Old School” and “Revenge of the Nerds” fused together like a Frankenstein’s monster of a comedy, and you get “College.”

The film, out Jan. 27 on DVD, could have been appealing as a made-for-cable lark, but it’s too R-rated – and not nearly funny enough – to warrant its theatrical release.

Audiences might gasp at some of the gross moments, like when the boys do body shots off the hairiest frat guy in town.

And if you think that moment smacks of homo-eroticism, well, you’ve only scratched “College’s” surface.The whole film feels like one big repressed fratboy coming to terms with his alternative lifestyle.

There’s a good movie to be made with that theme, a sort of “Brokeback University,” but “College” is content to traffic in tired sexual humor until the end credits mercifully roll.

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(Photo: Kevin Covais, Andrew Caldwell and Drake Bell star in “College,” a witless new comedy out on DVD Jan. 27.)

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If you shoot a film with Seann William Scott, expect to get hit – hard – by on-set pranks.

Especially if your nickname happens to be “McLovin.”

Scott tells WWTW he put a dead fish in the car of his “Role Models” co-star Paul Rudd during the shoot, and the actor finally found out a whole week and a half later.

(Scott says Rudd got his revenge later by unleashing some foul-smelling material – dirty diapers – in Scott’s film trailer.)

But that was nothing compared to how Scott tormented McLovin — his “Role Models” co-star Christopher Mintz-Plasse.

“McLovin got his pretty bad,” Scott says with a smirk.

The wardrobe staffers sewed Mintz-Plasse’s pants tighter and tighter during the shoot to make him think he was gaining weight and sewed change in his pockets as well. And someone put dog excrement in his shoes one day.

Then Scott took over.

“I left him really mean messages saying that I was gonna hurt him,” he recalls, Stifler’s maniacal smile beaming out. “I said, ’playing practical jokes is one thing, but you’ve gone too far.”

Actors and crew members played along, asking Mintz-Plasse what he did to piss Scott off.

“Nothing! Nothing!” the teen cried, according to Scott.

”It was almost too much … you forget he‘s 18,” Scott says.

Scott expects some, but likely not all, of the fun and games could make it to a “Role Models” DVD release some day.

(Photo: Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays a nerd who lives for fantasy role playing games in the new comedy “Role Models.”)

ALSO CHECK OUT:

Part 1 of Scott Interview

Part 2 of Scott Interview

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1. WWTW Interview: Seann William Scott
2. WWTW Interview: Seann William Scott – Part 2
3. When Stifler met McLovin