‘Roll models’ review

As familiar and clichéd as its premise may sound, ‘Role Models’ is surprisingly not such a bad comedy. Judging by the fact that it got stuck with a release date at the dawn of a definite blockbuster (Quantum of Solace), the makers certainly didn’t approach it with the greatest intentions. But nonetheless, it’s still one of those buddy comedies that shows how much fun the stars had making it, and when actors like Paul Rudd (Knocked Up) and Sean William Scott (American Pie) can have fun doing what they do best, you know that you can trust them to spark a few laughs; even if better ones have already come and gone this year.

Rudd plays Danny, a dead end worker who couldn’t be any more frustrated with his life, much to the degree of his goofy sex freak co-worker Wheeler (Scott). Together, they travel from one school to the next posing as a “stay off drugs” promotion, when really all they want is to sell an energy drink called Minotaur (like Monster… duh!) and drive a big monster truck. When a sudden outburst from the unhappy Danny lands them into doing 150 hours of community service, they become paired up with a couple of kids in some kind of big brother program.

Danny gets placed as a mentor to a fantasy-geek named Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, aka… McLovin!) whose medieval attire makes him look like Harry Potter in the Holy Grail. Wheeler, on the other hand, sort of meets his match when he’s placed with Ronnie, an obscenity-loving kid who responds to almost every statement with “because I’m black,” or instantly accuses people of “grabbing his joint.”

The multiple combinations that are created between all the different personalities don’t seem likely at all, but then again with comedies, they never do; so I can’t really beat this one over the head with “whys.” But what I can step on a little bit is the fact that the movie progresses very routinely from each one-liner to the next, and not a whole lot becomes clear to any of the characters. Judd Apatow always finds a heart amidst his vulgarity, but ‘Role Models’ focuses solely on the latter without ever really looking for the former. I just hope that any KISS fans who see this movie don’t get scarred for life on the true meaning of ‘Love Gun;’… according to Wheeler that is.

I know these comments may sound a little harsh based on my opening segment, but the truth is, I sometimes need a meaningless comedy that knows its boundaries, and ‘Role Models’ knew where to draw the line. It has two funny guys at its head, who create a decent amount of chemistry to hold the audience for 100 minutes, and at no point does any of the profanity or crudeness feel “thrown in” for the hell of it. I never would’ve thought that Steve Stifler could be cut down a bit, and still impress me. Then again; ‘Dude Where’s My Car?’ is one of my favorite ‘PG-13′ comedies, and it was about as dumb and pointless as its title.

Because I came into ‘Role Models’ with low expectations, and ‘Zack & Miri’ still fresh on my mind, it wasn’t hard for me to appreciate its minimal value, and see what little class it had to offer to its target audience. And because it doesn’t overdo any of its dirty privileges, it very well manages to avoid the curse of annoyance; which nowadays, seems like a big step in the right direction for any comedy. It’s just a too bad that step wasn’t made before ‘Pineapple Express’ or ‘Tropic Thunder.’

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Nov 14 2008. Filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry