Role Models
- Year:2009
- Rating:MA
- Director:David Wain
- Cast:Elizabeth Banks, Tajh Bellow, Paul Rudd, Sean William Scott
- Release Date:January 15, 2009
- Distributor:Universal
- Running time:99 minutes
- Film Worth:$13.50
- FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
“…a wild, funny comedy with heart.”
Hollywood cottage industry Judd Apatow (who directed Knocked Up and 40-Year-Old Virgin, and produced, amongst others, Superbad, Pineapple Express and Forgetting Sarah Marshall) has succeeded in creating a new comedic sub-genre, mixing raunchy, profane humour with perfectly pitched sentiment, resulting in gag-fests rich with laughs and real feeling. He's been so successful that new films (including Kevin Smith's upcoming Zack And Miri Make A Porno) are arriving that could best be described as "Apatow comedies", even though the producer/director has no involvement in them. The howlingly funny Role Models is one such flick.
Danny (Paul Rudd) is an acerbic, self-loathing misanthrope. Wheeler (Seann William Scott) is a fun-loving party animal. They work together flogging an energy drink to high schoolers under the guise of drug avoidance education. After a bad day turns to disaster, they're given an option: go to prison or do 150 hours mentoring troubled kids. The decision is easy, and soon Danny is buddied up with Christopher Mintz-Plasse's fantasy-loving nerd ("If I mentioned a game of quidditch, he'd come in his pants," Danny sneers), while Wheeler is stuck with foul mouthed trouble maker Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson). Literal hilarity ensues, and a few life lessons are learned.
Role Models is an absolute pisser. Like School Of Rock and The Bad News Bears, it cleverly walks a fine line by throwing kids in amongst the filth. The gags are just on the right side of offensive, and the characters are all eminently likeable (Jane Lynch is brilliant as the former drug addicted director of the child mentoring programme, and Elizabeth Banks is her usual delightful self as Danny's put-upon girlfriend) and excellently performed. The result is a total winner: Role Models is a wild, funny comedy with heart.
