Cast: Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Elizabeth Banks, Jane Lynch
Director: David Wain
Running Time: 100 mins
Role Models is a comedy surrounding energy drink salesmen Danny and Wheeler who have nothing in common except their employer. Danny is a self-loathing, irritable pessimist who hates the fact that he has accomplished nothing in his life, while Wheeler loves his job as a Minotaur mascot trying to keep teenagers off drugs. While Danny’s constant negativity has led to a failing relationship with his beautiful girlfriend, Attorney Beth, Wheeler enjoys his carefree lifestyle with women. After an outburst by Danny during one of his promotional speeches the two are given a choice between 30 days in jail or 150 hours of community service in 30 days at a charity called Sturdy Wings run by ex-cocaine addict Gayle Sweeney.
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Danny and Wheeler are then paired up with two odd-ball kids Augie and Ronnie who they will have to spend time with and help out. The two salesmen soon find themselves getting into more trouble over the next few weeks trying to get along with each other and the kids they have been entrusted with.
Paul Rudd (Knocked Up, Clueless) who has never really been a lead in a film before carries out his first major role in Role Models as Danny while Seann William Scott, well known for playing Stifler in the American Pie series, is Wheeler. The two work well as a duo and share plenty of hilarious moments on screen while supporting characters like Jane Lynch who plays the unfathomable Sweeney and Bobb’e Thompson who played Ronnie are fantastic.
Christopher Mintsz-Plasse who is well recognized for his role as McLovin in 2007’s worst comedy Superbad, is his usual geeky self as Augie. The film has very few slapstick style jokes and relies heavily on its witty script and the charisma of the actors delivering it. Elizabeth Banks (W, Definitely, Maybe) is great in front of the camera although her character does little by way of adding any humour to the story.
The story is certainly light and shallow but the way in which the scriptwriters and the seemingly unknown director (David Wain) works genuine comedy around it is quite commendable. I usually watch films like this because it’s an easy way to pass about an hour and a half but this comedy actually had me in fits of laughter during the middle stages. The end was corny as expected, mostly because there couldn’t have been a different ending although I thought Danny’s final song to win back his love was a terribly bad touch.
Role Models hurls a cheap storyline and heaps of crude laughs at the audience but no one can doubt its value. The film will certainly be forgotten over the next few months or so but it is undoubtedly entertaining and funny. I don’t usually recommend many of the comedies released in recent days but this one is certainly worth a watch on a day you’ll rather prefer a completely harebrained light-hearted film. |
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