Role Models (Unrated)
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Movie Reviews of Role Models (Unrated)
Movie Review: Role Models
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie totally rocks, that's why I had to own it. I would recommend this movie.Movie Review: This movie is so funny!
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie was so funny and the characters were awesome. This is a must see.Movie Review: Rudd & Scott elevate this above it's predicatable structure. FUNNY!
Summary: 4 Stars
In this new "golden era" of R-rated comedies (KNOCKED UP, 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, SUPER BAD, etc.)...there are a few "MVP" actors who have made a real impact on a broad swath of these films. Seth Rogan is certainly the name that first leaps to mind, if only for sheer number of appearances. But my personal favorite is Paul Rudd (to my mind, he's the best thing in KNOCKED UP...a very good film). He's a handsome actor with mischief and intelligence in equal measure twinkling in his eyes. He's one of the actors who plays a character who actually says funny things because his character would say something funny, rather than just because the script demanded it. He seldom pushes himself physically, but verbally he's capable of the most subtle work imaginable.
His appearance along in ROLE MODELS made me want to see the film. He's not had a truly starring role before, and since he also co-wrote the script...I knew this was a must see.
But I must also admit that Seann William Scott (Stifler in the AMERICAN PIE films...the series that bridged the gab from PORKY's era R-rated comedy to today's current ilk) was also a draw for me. He's capable of the most explicit raunch, but also doesn't seem to have a single malicious bone in his body. There is something infectious about his "let's party" attitude that makes you believe that this actor is genuinely enjoying what he's doing and would, in fact, be the life of any party. The prospect of these two together was just too much to resist.
BUT THEN I realized that Jane Lynch, that most spectacular of under-rated film comediennes (VIRGIN, A MIGHTY WIND, BEST IN SHOW) was also featured. She's difficult to describe, frankly. A tall presence, her characters often teeter on the line between being the smartest person in the room and the most insane.
ROLE MODELS tells the story of two guys (Rudd & Scott) who work selling a Red Bull like concoction called Minotaur to high-school kids. They drive their tricked out Minotaur truck to schools and Scott, dressed as a minotaur, hands out free samples and makes minotaur noises. Rudd, dressed in a suit, gives whimpy anti-drug speeches ("Don't do drugs...drink Minotaur"). Scott LOVES his job...Rudd hates his job and hates himself for being stuck in it for a decade. Scott thinks he and Rudd a great friends. Rudd considers Scott a barely tolerable co-worker. One day, after Rudd's girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) breaks up with him, Rudd finally looses his cool and causes a rather spectacular accident with the Minotaur-truck.
Rather than be sent to jail, the two are sentenced to 180 hours each of community service work at "Sturdy Wings", a kind of Big Brother organization run by Lynch. Scott is assigned to Ronnie, a young, black and EXTREMELY foul-mouthed eleven year old (I'm guessing at the age) who has never had a Big Brother who lasted more than a day. Rudd gets Augie, a 16 year old (Christopher Mintz-Platz...McLovin from SUPERBAD)...a kid who lives to play in a one of those groups where everyone dresses up likes knights and kings and bashes each other Styrofoam swords.
You can pretty much guess where this movie is headed about 20 minutes into it. These reluctant father figures will learn to appreciate their kids, learn lessons about life, themselves and each other. The kids will feel better about themselves. Everyone will be happy.
It's the journey getting to this point that is so much fun. There are some very clever ideas...many of them centered around the rock band KISS. The film also manages to milk a lot of humor out of the whole knights & ladies scenario...many of them more insightful than you would expect.
But what truly makes the film successful are the performances from the folks you expected to see deliver. Paul Rudd is, flat-out, hilariously dry. Early on, he launches into a venomous tirade against a barista...all about how their coffee is tall, grande and venti. It's full of gall...and it's totally relatable to anyone who's ever been frustrated at the way a store conducts its business. But when he begins to melt, he never strays from the truth of his character. He doesn't lose that cynical sense of humor...just the self-loathing behind it. And Scott is nearly a revelation. His character isn't quite as raunchy as Stifler, and he develops a rather touching relationship with his young charge...one which he takes very convincingly seriously. Although it isn't exactly high praise, I would say this may be Scott's best-rounded, most "human" performance. He's been given a script that actually asks him to act and not just be a clown. And he delivers.
Jane Lynch steals all her scenes. When she decides she's angry at Rudd and Scott, her diatribes against them are a joy to behold. On the surface, they seem reasonable...but they actually make virtually no sense. Lynch plays them with the straightest of all possible straight faces...to hilarious effect.
The young boys Bobb'e Thompson and Mintz-Platz are quite up to sharing the screen with their older, more experienced co-stars. Thompson in particular manages to be touching without ever once abandoning his basic assignment as the smart-*ss.
I only dock the film points for a rather tepid performance from Elizabeth Banks (in an underwritten role) and for its core of unoriginality. As I said, the journey is fun...but where it leads is unmistakably familiar ground...trod by about a million movies ahead of it. But it is HIGHLY entertaining, very much NOT for children and a nice addition to this new "golden era" of raunchy comedies.
Movie Review: What a surprise!
Summary: 4 Stars
Role Models (David Wain, 2008)
I originally had no interest in Role Models. The whole adult-comedy thing has taken a turn for the terminally stupid in the past few years, spearheaded by the braindead comedies of Judd Apatow, and I kind of turned away from the entire genre for a while. Then I saw The Hangover, and was blown away. Soon after, I remembered that some critics I respect had tabbed Role Models as one of 2008's best movies, so I checked it out. I liked it a whole lot more than I expected to, though I think it may have resonated more with my inner D&D player than with the part of me that was so wowed by The Hangover.
Plot: Danny (Apatow alumnus Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott of the seemingly-neverending American Pie series) are energy drink reps. To Wheeler, it's a job he was born to do. Danny, however, wants something more out of life. This existing tension between them is exacerbated when Danny's girlfriend Beth (The Uninvited's Elizabeth Banks) breaks up with him. Through a complicated, and silly, series of events, the two of them end up arrested for wrecking the bull-mobile they drive to promote energy drinks and end up sentenced to one hundred fifty hours of community service apiece, which they are supposed to fulfill in the world's worst Big Brother program. Wheeler is assigned Ronnie (That's So Raven's Bobb'e J. Thompson), a foulmouthed delinquent who may be the best kid on a screen since Tanner in the original Bad News Bears, while Danny finds himself paired with Augie (Superbad's Christopher Mintz-Plasse), an uber-goober who lives for LARPing. Needless to say, Augie and Ronnie don't get along too well, and neither kid is fond of Wheeler and Danny, but eventually things start going well. Until, of course, Danny (with the best of intentions) and Wheeler (in his usual self-absorbed way) find ways to screw things up, and need to reconcile themselves both with the kids they've come to love and with the insane head of the Big Brother program (Glee's Jane Lynch).
I expected it to be funny, and I expected it to go for the heartstrings (what was the last American comedy that didn't, or that didn't at least attempt to). What I didn't expect was Bobb'e J. Thompson, who absolutely steals this movie. I made the comparison to The Bad News Bears' Tanner Boyle before, and there's a lot of Tanner's politically incorrect attacks on anything and everything here (though Wain isn't willing to go quite as far as Michael Ritchie did thirty-odd years ago). Thompson obviously has fun with the role, and it slots well into what Wain is trying to do with this picture. I also didn't expect Wain to get nearly as far into LARPing as he did; this movie is the flipside of the IFC documentary Darkon (or its much lower-budget, yet infinitely superior, cousin Uber Goober), not playing the LARP community straight at all but getting just as many laughs out of it while portraying it in just as dysfunctional, but far more positive (in my opinion, of course), a light. Serious amounts of fun to be had with this one. *** ½
Movie Review: Surprisingly Hilarious
Summary: 4 Stars
Pretty much everyone, even Kevin Smith, is trying to cash in on the success of Judd Apatow and friends. Never before have such a talented, bright group of comedians come together to produce such a collection of hilarious and heartfelt films. From Rogen to Rudd, from Hill to Segel, from Carell to Cera, Judd Apatow knows how to cast some funny and creative dudes, so naturally Hollywood would try to repeat his success and grab these dudes up. The team behind ROLE MODELS scored big, recruiting Apatow alums Paul Rudd (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) and Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Superbad), along with a pretty funny guy who hasn't gotten a lot of love in the film industry recently, Seann William Scott (Stiffler from American Pie). Despite the strong cast, the trailer collected some pretty bad jokes and stiff moments, so I thought this Apatow-copy would surely be a stinker... but surprisingly, it was really, really good. Chock full of both laughs and heart, this is definitely worth watching.
The premise is simple. Two men who spend their lives going school-to-school selling energy drinks to students wind up in court after the more-uptight dude snaps after a particularly rotten day. Instead of going to jail, the two opt to be mentors ("Bigs") to some kids ("Littles") who have been unsuccessful in keeping a mentor around thus far. The kids are hilarious and really impressed me. One of them is played by Bobb'e Jacques Thompson, a mini-twelve year old and self-described "Booby Watcher." Christopher Mintz-Plasse plays Augie Farks, a role-playing nerd who is neglected by his family. The plot, on the surface, is a straight forward dramedy in which the mentor program teaches both the mentor and the kid something important, but the ways it's done is so fantastically creative and tongue-in-cheek that you forget how traditional the arc of the story really is. Plus, Paul Rudd is basically a legend, so watching him crack jokes, get attached to Augie, and sing freestyle songs to his girlfriend on a faux-Medieval battlefield is an experience everybody deserves to have.
ROLE MODELS blew my expectations away. Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott had pretty good chemistry, but what really made this film was their relationships with the two kids. It was touching, hilarious, and really creatively done.
8/10