Ok, so we all have seen our share of Seann William Scott, always the lovable, sex-crazed, party animal who is not billed as the smartest guy in the room and Paul Rudd, dry, sarcastic and often down right mean. So mix in a fair dose of Elizabeth Banks and a few other recent teen comedy type-cast actors… and BAM you have your next Super Bad! Or do you?
Danny and Wheeler, played by Rudd and Scott, are 30-something energy drink salesmen peddling Minotaur. The movie starts with the pair going school to school doing a thinly veiled anti-drug campaign, suggesting that the kids “don’t do drugs- just drink Minotaur!” Their life takes a dramatic change, when Danny’s I hate everything (mostly himself) attitude lands them fired, arrested and dumped. Danny’s now ex-girlfriend and lawyer, Beth (played by Elizabeth Banks [Hot! -ed]) has to keep them out of jail by getting them 150 hours community service at a Big Brothers type organization called Sturdy Wings. There they meet their new court-mandated friends, Ronnie and Augie.
I am personally tried of this genre and had little hope for Role Models. It starts off slowly, but the mix of Scott’s frat humor and Rudd’s sarcasm really ends up working. Most of all Ronnie, (played by Bobb’e J Thompson who has a huge Filmography for a 12 year old kid) often steals the show and plays off the rest of the cast well; especially Rudd. Unfortunately not everyone faired quite so well. Jane Lynch’s character (Gayle Sweeny the director of Sturdy Wings), is one whom I could have done without. After the fifth rant about her being an ex-coke addict I almost turned the movie off. But, on the whole, this DVD was worth the hour and 42 minutes I invested in it.
Though I am not going to go as far as to say that you should buy this movie, I will say that it is a solid rent.
I’m going to have to make it known that I enjoyed this movie a little more than Justin did. Not enough to write a second opinion, but if I did I’d probably give it a 6 or 7.