Starring: Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb’e J. Thompson, Jane Lynch
Directed By: David Wain
Written By: Paul Rudd, David Wain
Released: November 7, 2008
Grade: B

Role Models follows a simple story that ends up being more entertaining than I expected. In many moments, the writing and obscure situations are very funny. The film’s cast really hit the comedy timing right, enhancing the enjoyment to be had through the movie. However, some storylines and characters are more entertaining to others. Some of the jokes get old fast when we still have another hour and a half of their run. Still, there is enough that does work to make Role Models a fun film.

Danny (Rudd) and Wheeler (Scott) work as energy drink salesman who go from school to school promoting their drinks in place of involvement of drugs. When Wheeler and some of his workers throw Danny a party for his 10 years working for the company things take a bad turn. This just depresses Danny since he hates his job and wishes he wasn’t still stuck working there. After this things just get worse when Danny’s long time girlfriend, Beth (Banks), breaks up with him saying that he takes all of the enjoyment out of life and she can’t be happy with him. Danny explodes while lecturing a school, saying all of the wrong things. When Wheeler and him leave they find their company truck being towed. When they can’t reason with the tow truck man, they try to drive it away but end up just crashing in to the school’s statue instead. They are expected to be sentenced to 30 days in prison. However, their lawyer, Beth, manages to get them off on 150 hours of community service at a big brother program.

From the beginning the program’s manager, Gayle (Lynch), is hesitant and suspicious of Danny and Wheeler since she knows that they don’t really want to be there. Wheeler is partnered up with Ronnie (Thompson), one of the youngest boys in the program, but the one with the biggest mouth on him. No one else has lasted more than a day with Ronnie and his attitude shows Wheeler why. Danny on the other hand is partnered up with Augie (Mintz-Plasse), one of the oldest boys in the program. While he isn’t quite as wild as Ronnie, Danny still has a hard time trying to relate anything to him. Augie is somewhat of a loner and lives out imaginary battles and often doesn’t even seem to be living in reality. With some struggle Danny and Wheeler manage to connect with their partners to some extent as they go through their needed hours. However, the question is if they will be able to put these kids first or whether all the work they have done will just blow up in their face and possibly send them to jail.

I really enjoyed the cast in the film as most of them helped bring out their characters as well as the comedy. For playing the straight character Paul Rudd still managed to be very entertaining, mostly through his cynical sarcasm. Seann William Scott’s character was in some ways pretty similar to Stifler of the American Pie movies with his womanizer and partying persona. Still, it was good to see him with such great energy and spark. Elizabeth Banks is great as Beth. She has great chemistry with Rudd and she also shows a believable intelligence in her character. While Jane Lynch did do well with what she was given, in the end her character was given the same jokes that laid flat. While she did hit her marks well as the ex-con and drug addict turned a big brother program founder, the character wasn’t given enough material to really work with and the dialogue she was given in particular was redundant. Christopher Mintz-Plasse gives us another nerdy character, but one that is much more shy, unsure of himself, but who comes alive in the fantasy world that everyone else seems to look down upon. I really enjoyed him here and his character was the one that I actually found to be the most inventive and surprisingly enough, as the oddball, he was the one that I could relate to the most. Bobb’e J. Thompson definitely brought out the troublesome pervy little kid that Ronnie was, but this is all there was to his character so it was lacking a bit. Ken Marino and Kerri Kenney were great as Augie’s parents. They were completely unsupportive and trying to turn him in to something he wasn’t, but it is just the quirky cheer that they present themselves with that makes them so much fun to watch.

The storyline with Wheeler and Ronnie is the weaker of the two. There isn’t much to Ronnie’s character and although Wheeler is pretty enjoyable he isn’t largely developed either. However, the reasoning that the story is lacking is because all of the comedy relies on shock factor. Ronnie’s constant cussing, implications of child molestation, as well as Wheeler’s guidance in how to check out girls and get them to sleep with you all follow this shock factor. The title Role Models is obviously a sarcastic one since Wheeler and Danny are not the best role models for kids. Still, I felt the film would have benefited a lot if there was some other aspect put in to their storyline.

The parts with Augie and L.A.I.R.E., the live action role playing renaissance battle game, are the highest points of the film and really save it from falling flat. It varies so greatly from the rest of the film and takes us in to a new world and brings great understanding to Augie’s character. Before this the film shows him partaking in similar activities, but he seems lonely and lost. However, while playing L.A.I.R.E., he is surrounded by others who act and appreciate the same things that he does. He finds commonalities and people who aren’t trying to change him, but embrace him. Not to mention seeing our other characters in this atmosphere is priceless and gives us one of the most enjoyable scenes at the end. In this context where the motive and energy are heightened. There are a few jokes in Role Models that are overdone, but there is enough rich dialogue throughout the film to keep you enjoying the film throughout this. When the film exits its comfort zone is when it shines the most. Even when it is not great it has a strong level of likeability that keeps the audience having fun with it. Role Models has a few flaws keeping it from being a great comedy, but it is still an enjoyable film.