Role Models

|Staff Writer

“Role Models” is a film about two slacker guys, Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott), whose jobs are to go from school to school selling an energy drink called Minotaur, which is funny in itself. Danny is sick of his job and his girlfriend is sick of him. One day everything piles up and Danny goes a little crazy, leading both Danny and Wheeler to have a date with the courts. Danny’s girlfriend (played by the wonderful Elizabeth Banks), also Danny’s lawyer, presents them with two options: either spend time in jail, or serve over a hundred hours of community service. They are then set up with a community service program called Sturdy Wings which is a big brother-type program for kids and is run by it’s founder; the hilarious ex-junkie Gayle Sweeny (played by the hilariously painful Jane Lynch). Wheeler is paired up with the foul-mouthed Ronnie who winds up stealing the show, and Danny is paired up with nerdyand genuine Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse of McLovin’ fame). Mintz-Plasse still plays the nerd as he did in “Superbad”, but this movie is a definite step forward from his branded McLovin character. He pulls off the role with charm and sensitivity.

“Role Models” is the product of the brilliantly twisted mind that gave us the near perfect and entirely under-rated “Wet Hot American Summer” in 2001. This is a mind that gives us penis jokes, sex jokes, nerd jokes, awkward jokes and jokes that make you cringe for laughing so hard in the first place. This is the mind of David Wain. Wain is a part of a three-man comedy team with Michael Showalter (“The Baxter”) and Michael Ian Black called Stella, which had a hilarious but cancelled one-season show on Comedy Central. Last year Wain made the very hit-or-miss comedy “The Ten” which stars Paul Rudd, Jessica Alba, and “The OC”‘s Adam Brody, but the film never got much spotlight. Wain’s comedies have never really reached a wide audience and have only seemed to sparkle for his close-knit cult following (including myself) mostly because his style of comedy is so abrasive and crude. “Role Models” is his chance to break that cult following and to reach a wider audience because it is so well crafted and incredibly watchable. This may be thanks to “Role Models”‘ star Paul Rudd. It’s not just that Paul Rudd delivers a fantastic, down-in-the-dumps performance, but because he has writing credits for the gig. Wain and Rudd are long time friends and when Wain presented Rudd with the script, Rudd felt it needed some work and, for the most part, rewrote the screenplay (according to Entertainment Weekly). It seems as though it was for the better. The dialogue is so quick and clever that it has a sharp improvisational feel to it. It also carries some weight by developing strong characters so that by the end of it, you are completely engrossed in the characters’ stories that you want to jump up and cheer for them. Wain also has a small role and delivers possibly one of the funniest lines in the film.

The entire cast shines throughout and this can be attributed to the fact that most in the cast are all good friends, meaning that Wain knows who’s good at what and how to get the best from each cast member. “Role Models” is also enjoyable because the characters are hyper-aware of the absurd situations they find themselves in that they fully embrace them. It is not quite as perfect as “Wet Hot American Summer”, but it’s damn close. Also, if you’ve seen the trailer for this film, be forewarned. The trailer does not do the movie justice by any means. If a movie can make Sean William Scott funny and likeable, it gets my thumbs up.

Grade: A-