In theaters. Rated R, 99 minutes. Trailer.
Without a doubt the funniest movie I've seen this year, Role Models should be a B+, but couldn't stick the landing. After being mostly let-down with Tropic Thunder and Pineapple Express, I had basically written off comedies for this year (other than maybe the forthcoming Four Christmases) when I saw the trailer for Role Models. Starring (and co-written by) the suddenly ubiquitous funnyman Paul Rudd, the film has great characters and multiple laugh out loud moments (which Priest and I enjoyed together in the theater). Click below for more of Role Models and my list of the funniest movies of 2008:
Rudd is Danny, a self-loathing but arrogant Gen-Xer stuck in a dumb job selling an energy drink called Minotaur at schools with sidekick and mascot (Wheeler) Sean William-Scott. After a very bad day, the bitter Danny goes berserk when his girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) rebukes his half-baked proposal and ends up facing prison time or community service. Wheeler is in the same spot as an 'accessory' and they choose community service, which takes place at Sturdy Wings, a big brothers/big sisters type program run by the inimitable Jane Lynch. At first they view their 'littles' as a pain, but they end up....you know the rest.
Rudd nails his part and though William-Scott is (as usual) playing an incarnation of American Pie's Stiffler, it works here. Their interactions are hilarious and, at times, meaningful (especially when Wheeler retorts to Danny "oh, I get it: you hate yourself, but you're also better than everyone - nice."). The relationships with the little brothers are predictable but worth it, with Rudd paired up with Jonathan Mintz-Plasse (McLovin) and Wheeler paired up with a young black kid with the best lines of the movie (his "I Don't Wanna Take My Pants Off!!" is my favorite line of the year). The sappy arc of the relationships are handled well until the last 20 minutes, when a medieval battle scene goes 10 minutes too long and the saccharin got too deep for me and Priest.
This movie has all the same key components as Diggers, with Director Ken Wain and co-writers and co-stars Rudd and Ken Marino. With this film, Rudd has established himself as a must-see actor/writer for me. His wit and world-weariness hits close enough to home that I know his involvement will give most things a perspective I can relate to.
Good performances from Ken Jeong (the a-hole doctor from Knocked Up) and Ken Marino as the clueless stepdad of the nerdy kid.
Funniest movies so far this year:
1. Role Models
2. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
3. Baby Mama
4. Tropic Thunder
5. Ghost Town
6. Pineapple Express
7. Burn After Reading
8. Run Fatboy Run
Monday, November 10, 2008
Role Models - B
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3 comments:
Big Brothers Big Sisters may be the big winner of this new movie thanks to the support we are getting from Paul Rudd and Universal Studios. Check out the PSA (Public Service Announcement) in support of us at BigBrothersBigSisters.org.
agreed with lawyer. williams-scott has been typecast, but he rocks that part so well. he needs a good agent to get him in some top-shelf indy films, cause stifler only got a few more years before he's the super-creepy uncle. lots and lots of laughs. i'd like to have seen more of banks, but she's perfect in her role. you can see why she fell for rudd, and why she's getting over him.
B for me too, I guess, but closer to a B- (83 vs. your 86?). It's uneven, predictable, and embarassing at times (especially for McLovin). Nearly all of the laughs are R-rated. I can appreciate Rudd's worldview, but Lynch's coke-whore stories got old real quick. I'll take Tropic Thunder, then FSM, then Role Models, I guess. Baby Mama should get extra points for getting so many laughs without an R rating. As for Burn After Reading, sure, it's not as laugh-out-loud funny as this, but it is a better "film". Not that that's worth a whole lot on a Saturday night.
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