Role Models

I really enjoyed Role Models. I laughed hard, thoroughly enjoyed the story and thought the chemistry among the four leads was wonderful. Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott are energy drink peddlers who have a really bad day. That leads to 150 hours of community service in Sturdy Wings (think Big Brothers) with the oldest misfit Angus (Christopher Mints-Plasse) and the youngest, the foulmouthed, breast obsessed Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson). The kids help the adults get beyond their self-centeredness.

The film works as a buddy comedy, but the addition of Jane Lynch (I'd nominate her for best supporting actress for this role) is inspired brilliance. She is absolutely incredible and adds this layer of social bite and laugh-out-loud humor to the film.

The film is not a gross-out comedy, to my relief, but it's not for the faint of heart where language is concerned. That said, I don't think there was a wasted swear word (and there are hundreds) in the film.

Writer/Director David Wain has a gift for taking overplayed ideas and turning them into quality comedies. Would that Judd Apatow take a lesson from him. His Hot Wet American Summer is also a fine film, a riff on the teen camp comedy. Role Models riffs on the buddy movie to great effect.

This is one I'll see again.