Director David Wain has been hit-or-miss with me. When I first saw "Wet Hot American Summer", I hated it. By the fifth or sixth time I saw it, I loved it. I was quoting it to people and watching it anytime I needed a good laugh. What happened was that my tastes in humor changed over the years from the first time I saw it to the second time I saw it and I slowly started growing fond of the film. When "The Ten" rolled around I was beyond excited. However, it proved to be a big disappointment and I just can't enjoy it anymore than I did the first time I saw it. I love that kind of humor, which is also why I loved "The State" and "Stella"; however, there has just been something about David Wain that always threw me on the first go. "Role Models" is an exception. It's his most mainstream film to date and it's also easily his funniest. If 2008 is the Year of the Comedy, "Role Models" is the cream of the crop.
Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) are two 30-somethings who work for Minotaur Energy Drinks, visiting local schools and preaching on the benefits of the delicious green liquid. After Danny's girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) refuses his marriage proposal and breaks up with him, Danny becomes even more destructive than usual, eventually landing both Danny and Wheeler with 150-hours of community service, which is to be spent at a facility called Sturdy Wings, which partners 'bigs' with 'littles' in the hopes of forming lasting friendships. The owner of this facility is Gayle Sweeny (Jane Lynch), a former drug addict turned straight. Danny's 'little' turns out to be a magic-freak named Augie Farks (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who loves role playing games and hates his mother and step-father. Wheeler's 'little' is Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson), an insanely energetic kid who spits out profanity left and right and doesn't want to do anything but talk about adult themed ideology.
Most of this film deals with Rudd and Scott dealing with their respective kids and forming bonds with them. There is actually a sweetness to the film that is hiding underneath the language and the nudity and the various other items that should keep children from viewing this picture. The plotline is pretty formulaic in the grand scheme of things and a lot of it is pretty predictable, but the actors have a lot of fun with the material, the kid actors are just fantastic and supporting turns from Jane Lynch and Joe Lo Truglio are scene stealers. There is also an awful lot of respect paid to the band KISS, referenced many times throughout the film. Wain, as always, has a fondness for injecting 1980's pop culture into his films and he does so again here, and it works quite well. Any time I heard a KISS member referenced, I was rolling in the floor like the rest of the audience.
What surprised me most was how well Rudd and Scott worked together. I have never been a huge Paul Rudd fan and I have never been a huge Seann William Scott fan, so I was expecting disaster. Rudd does basically the same thing he always does, but his writing is superior and he has a nice foil in Scott to work with. Seann William Scott is coming into his own these days and I am glad he seems to be sticking with comedy and staying away from the action and thriller genre. He has a youthful energy about him, which is not what Rudd has at all, which is why they work so well together. And, as mentioned before, Jane Lynch steals the entire movie in her role as the former cocaine addict who doesn't like bullshitters because she's the queen bullshitter. Also keep an eye out for the insanely underrated Ken Jeong as the King. He's hysterical.
The writing is the best thing about this film and it's enough to make it one of the funniest films of the year. David Wain's humor has always been 'different' and he finally manages to keep that unique spirit, but make it more accessible to the rest of audiences out there. "Wet Hot American Summer" is great, but it alienates a lot of people. "Role Models" might alienate a few with its language and graphic lampoons, but screw them. The film is over-the-top, laugh out loud funny and actually very sensitive to the kids therein. It's a sweet film about two kids finding acceptance and friendship where they couldn't find it before, and it's about two grown men learning that there's more to this life than themselves. Oh, and it's about titties and drinking too.
Seann William Scott (Wheeler)
Paul Rudd (Danny)
Christopher Mintz-Plasse (Augie Farks)
Bobb'e J. Thompson (Ronnie Shields)
Elizabeth Banks (Beth)
Jane Lynch (Gayle Sweeny)
Ken Jeong (King Argotron)
Director: David Wain
RATED R
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