Referencing NYU in Movies & TV Shows
Turning on a movie and hearing our school’s name isn’t unusual for NYU students. Personally, I love watching movies of all genres and storylines, however, films set in New York have always had my heart. Whether it’s seeing a familiar street I walk by on my way to class or characters mentioning my favorite restaurant, there’s something special about knowing that a bit of my own life is being represented. One of my favorite things to stumble upon is a movie or show that references NYU. Today, I’m sharing a list of eight movies and shows that are either set on NYU’s campus or mention our university at one point or another.
1. Remember Me (2010)
Remember Me is one of my favorite movies and tells a beautiful, yet heartbreaking story of a fictional NYU student played by Robert Pattinson, leading up to 9/11. He has a complicated family life, especially his relationship with his father who works in the World Trade Center.
Many of the scenes were filmed around NYU, with one scene specifically showing him walking with his friend between Waverly Place and Washington Square with an NYU flag waving in the background. This scene was particularly exciting to watch since many of us take that exact route to class. Throughout the film, viewers can see a typical college life at NYU during this time
period. The final moments set on the day of 9/11 truly capture the heartbreak and fear of that tragic day. I won’t spoil the ending, but I highly recommend watching this movie.
2. How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014)
Yes! In season 2 of How I Met Your Mother, Barney Stinson takes a recently broken-up Marshall to a fictional college bar called “The Scorpion and the Toad” where he meets a pre-law NYU student. Marshall is not too keen on this whole idea of meeting new women as he is still hung up on Lily. However, Marshall eventually finds his happy ending with Lily later in the episode when they get back together.
3. Friends (1995-2005)
The classic hit show, Friends, featured a memorable NYU reference when Ross Geller is lucky enough to teach a paleontology class here and embraces a fake English accent to impress his new students. Things take a turn when he starts a relationship with his student, Elizabeth– a clear violation of NYU’s rules. Ultimately, while Ross and Elizabeth are on a date, they run into other staff members who warn Ross against this inappropriate behavior. The relationship is short-lived (thankfully!), but Ross continues to teach at NYU for years afterward. He even has a 4.1 rating on Rate My Professor.
4. Gossip Girl (2007-2012)
To her disdain, Blair Waldorf attends NYU in season 3 of Gossip Girl. Since NYU was my dream school for years, it always felt ironic that the show implied she was “settling” while most of her peers attended Ivy League schools. In her own words, “NYU is not the Upper East Side. They don't care about Constance or social hierarchy. They don't care that I'm Blair Waldorf! It's over.” It made no sense that these characters, who spent most of their time running around the city, attending galas, and setting up drama, had been accepted to insanely competitive schools. Nevertheless, Blair brought her personality to her new NYU dorm, decorated to the nines compared to most dorm rooms I’ve seen. Although the producers portrayed NYU inaccurately at times, I will never stop re-watching this iconic show.
5. Someone Great (2019)
In this film, the three main characters are NYU alumni in their late twenties, living in the city. Continuous flashbacks to their time at NYU occur throughout the film. The main character, Jenny Young, met her boyfriend back in college and they have been dating ever since. However, he recently dumped her just as she received a dream job offer in San Francisco. Saying goodbye to New York City, her friends, and the man she once loved proves to be extremely difficult. To commemorate her life in NYC, she decides to celebrate one last unforgettable day with her two best friends. The film ends with the three of them sitting on the Washington Square Park fountain, showing a glimpse of the Empire State Building shining purple in celebration of NYU graduation. I still cannot fathom how even the Empire State Building recognizes our school’s special day. Many students will leave New York after graduation, and this movie encapsulates the mixed emotions one might feel.
6. To All the Boys: Always and Forever (2021)
In the final To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before, Lara Jean visits New York City and stumbles upon an NYU campus tour starting in Washington Square Park. To her surprise, the campus is located directly in the middle of the city resulting in her friend's reply, “Manhattan is the campus. That’s its thing. Did you not apply here?” Don’t worry, she did! As the tour continues through the park,
it’s reminiscent of the guides we see around campus every day. Later that night, they attend a rooftop party with a live band, which I can say heavily depicts an accurate representation of what it is like to be an NYU student on the weekends. After much deliberation, Lara Jean chooses NYU over UC Berkeley. And honestly–who can blame her?
7. The Other Guys (2010)
In this comedy-action film starring Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg, they play NYPD officers trying to make it out of their boring desk tasks and into the action of fighting crime. There is a quick shoutout to NYU when their boss, Captain Gene, reveals that he works another job at Bed Bath & Beyond “just to put a kid through NYU”. This line is funny, yet an accurate remark. It’s no secret that NYU’s tuition is expensive, so poking fun at it is merited.
8. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008)
The first Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants film, released in 2005, has all of the necessities of an iconic coming-of-age 2000s film: friendship, love, and heartbreak. The 2008 sequel follows one of the main characters, Tibby, who is now a film student at NYU. Throughout the summer she returns to New York to film a romantic comedy she never finished during the school year. Her scenes were shot in the city, with many of her walking past NYU flags. After getting into an argument with her boyfriend, Tibby runs into him outside of our freshman dorm, Weinstein. The outside looks fairly different from the way it looks now, with an all-metal wall near the entrance. They decide to walk to Washington Square Park to talk about their relationship– a moment I’m sure many NYU students can relate to. Later in the movie, you can see the inside of Weinstein with the familiar sign “NYU ID must be shown before entering the building”, which we all know too well. It is uncommon to see the actual inside of an NYU building in a movie, making this shot feel impressively authentic and all the more real.
New York University never fails to make it into hit TV shows and we love to see it. While there are many more features of NYU in the film industry, these were just a few of my top picks. Although it’s no shocker since many films are based in New York, it’s always exciting to hear our school's name in our favorite movies and shows. NYU is often stereotyped for having no school spirit or mascot, but I feel a sense of pride when seeing my school on the big screen. Go Violets!
