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Role Models

Role Models (2008)

November. 07,2008
|
6.8
|
R
| Comedy

Two salesmen trash a company truck on an energy drink-fueled bender. Upon their arrest, the court gives them a choice: do hard time or spend 150 service hours with a mentorship program. After one day with the kids, however, jail doesn't look half bad.

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jimbo-53-186511
2008/11/07

Two energy drinks reps Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) end up being enrolled in a Big Brother style program (in order to avoid prison) after they total their vehicle outside a school. The programme (run through a company called Sturdy Wings) involves Bigs (adults) mentoring Littles (kids) and the 2 men find their respective buddies challenging, but over time they soon begin to bond with them and a mutual respect gradually begins to develop...Revolving your narrative around 2 generally unlikeable individuals is always going to be a risky strategy; inevitably this will usually result in audiences reacting in 2 different ways - either they'll hate the protagonists or worse still won't care about them or anything that happens to them. The film skates this fine line all the way through; the protagonists are quite unlikeable, but evidence that they care about their buddies is highlighted at sporadic intervals throughout the film. This results in the film having a narrative that resembles a heart monitor; it goes up and down, up and down, up and down and so on. I've talked about Rudd and Scott's characters being unlikeable, but in retrospect that's probably a little unfair; Rudd's character is possibly a little bit easier to feel sympathy for; he hates his job and finds himself in a bit of a rut where he generally hates his existence and everyone around him - it's believable as I think that everyone feels a bit low at times. Him buddying up with L.A.I.R.E fanatic Augie was awkward at first, but it did give Danny something to focus his attention on and perhaps made him forget about his own problems - sure it's a little clichéd, but it isn't handled too badly here. Danny was a flawed person, but I didn't see him as a bad person and did find myself being able to relate to him. Sadly, the same cannot be said for Wheeler who really doesn't seem to care about anyone else but himself; this is made worse by the fact that he seems to get away with his misdemeanours with no repercussions. Sure he comes through in the end, but I did find his rather selfish and uncaring attitude a little off-putting.I think the really big nail in the coffin here is that it really isn't that funny; I thought the start of the film was good, but found it fell apart slightly when everything moved to Study Wings; in fact it's really left to Mintz-Plasse and Thompson to carry this aspect of the film as they get the best lines and are the funniest things about this film. After the impressive opener, Rudd and Scott kind of look all at sea in the latter aspects of the film although they do still have some funny moments from time to time.All in all, while Role Models isn't a complete waste of time it really isn't all that funny, but at the same time I can't entirely hate it because some heart and thought has been put into the film, but I don't believe that enough has been done to prevent it from being a below average film overall.FINAL NOTE; I would have given it a 5 out of 10, but it lost a star for that cringey final scence. Yuck!!

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John Brooks
2008/11/08

Watch this if you want some thick guys' humor for a night with a couple of buds or whatever, it's manufactured fun for you so it can't be a disaster as long as you're totally permeable.It's not as good as often promoted, lots of the film relies on two-way semantic humor, the typical sexual innuendo type, the usual despondency of the modern working man tired of his life and generally cynical, there's a bit of social commentary in the mix what with parenthood and all...It's okay, but as a more structure-oriented critique, as central to the whole plot as it is surely this film spends too much time in the geeky role-playing realm there. A casual comedy fan looking for some guys' fun shouldn't have to sit through so much footage of that, and one certainly must ask the question whether this targets the young 25-30 year old adult or the much younger prepubescent audience because those two are not the same.4.5/10.

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lewiskendell
2008/11/09

First of all, what's with the sudden pop culture saturation of LARP- ing in the past few years? It went from a fringe, nerds-only oddity, to the subject of a few documentaries, to a large portion of a mainstream comedy. Craziness! As for a review of the actual movie, Role Models is a comedy that's a bit more palatable to female tastes than the average film of this kind. It has a positive core at the center of its amusing and slightly raunchy exterior. Paul Rudd is as funny as always, Sean William Scott does his usual thing, and Elizabeth Banks lends her beauty and potent appeal, but it's Jane Lynch who steals the spotlight in her short, but numerous scenes. It's nice to see that Arrested Development alums are still the funniest in the biz.Role Models isn't nearly as touching or heartfelt as many critics would have you believe, and I do feel like it could have been much funnier. But overall, it left me with a good impression after I finished watching it, and that makes it a success in my book.

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SnoopyStyle
2008/11/10

Anson Wheeler (Seann William Scott) and Danny Donahue (Paul Rudd) are traveling promoters for an energy drink company. Wheeler is a slacker womanizer. Danny is devoted to lawyer Beth (Elizabeth Banks) and bitter that his life is going nowhere. In desperation, he asks her to marry him. Of course, she breaks up with him. Danny gets into a fight with a tow truck driver causing damage to the school. Beth gets them community service and they become big brothers to Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) who's obsessed with Live-Action-Interactive-Role playing-Explorers (basically LARP) and foul-mouthed Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson). Gayle Sweeny (Jane Lynch) runs the program.Paul Rudd is a great grump and gets in some good rants. Seann William Scott is doing his usual womanizing slacker. Mintz-Plasse is touching as the LARP nerd. He has a sweet relationship with Rudd. There is something funny about a foul-mouthed little kid. There are a lot of inappropriate laughs and there's a sweet feel-good movie at its center.

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