Role Models: Movie Review (2008)

Directed by David Wain, written by Paul Rudd, Wain, Ken Marino and Timothy Dowling, 99 minutes, rated R.

The funny new David Wain movie, “Role Models,” stars Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott as Danny and Wheeler, two adult best friends who haven’t exactly reached their personal zeniths. During any given week, you’ll find them humiliating themselves daily by shucking an energy drink called Minotaur at school conventions.

Doing so involves Wheeler wearing a furry Minotaur suit, and Danny driving a juiced-up Minotaur truck. The latter has monster wheels, an aggressive paint job, and the ability to shoot great balls of fire out of its horns. Classy.

When they get into trouble with the law for reasons best left for the screen, they find themselves at a crossroads--be sent to jail for one month, or give 150 hours of their time to the rough-and-tumble world of “Sturdy Wings,” which essentially is a Big Brother program, though not in any conventional sense.

It is, after all, run by Gayle (Jane Lynch, sour, bitter, outstanding), a woman with a lovely tattoo creeping up her forearm who claims she once ate cocaine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Gayle is as tough as a red light district having a competitive tent sale--her sneer could start a war--but since she’s apparently been reformed (that’s debatable), she wants the best for her young charges, the lot of whom she calls her “Littles.”

For Gayle’s “Bigs,” such as bright, sarcastic Danny, who is so gloomy, his relationship with his lawyer girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks) ends as the movie begins, that means being saddled with Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who is sort of like a male version of Heather Matarazzo’s Dawn Wiener from Todd Solondz’s 1995 movie, “Welcome to the Dollhouse.” Augie is a geek, through and through, and an endearing one at that. Since he has a difficult, combative homelife, he exists in a medieval fantasy world, dressing in capes and partaking in fake battles with others of similar ilk.

As for Wheeler, who isn’t as sharp as Danny but whose heart is bigger, he’s challenged with Ronnie (Bobb’e J. Thompson, stealing each of scenes), a devil child with a mind for trouble and a mouth apparently designed to drop a string of F bombs. This kid isn’t just a handful--he’s the antichrist. As played by Thompson, he’s also one of the movie’s great pleasures--he’s such a gifted comic, he gives the movie the boost of unpredictability it needs. The film would be unthinkable without him in it.

The reason “Role Models” succeeds comes down to its cast, their performances and its biting dialogue, which are so good, they override the fact that you know exactly how all of this will turn out long before the movie ends. The movie offers such a groundswell of lunacy, you’re swept away by it, often laughing thanks to it, and distracted from what otherwise is just a simple film driven by formula.

Grade: B+