Column:

'Role Models' good, dirty fun

By Dan Moore

Published Nov. 10, 2008

The R-rated Young Male Comedy has become, since "Superbad," a codified genre, with conventions - everyone swears a lot, and they're funnier for it; seemingly normal secondary characters are hiding bizarre sexual fetishes; everyone learns a lesson about adulthood at the end; and a lot of them are very funny movies. "Role Models" is another funny movie, but it seems hindered by its R rating - like it is trying to be something not supported by its premise.

Its premise is a very old one. Serious, sardonic Danny (Paul Rudd) has an identity crisis about his job, selling an energy drink called Minotaur to elementary schoolers in the guise of an anti-drug campaign; and his stagnant relationship with Beth, leading to an outburst that, in turn, leads to court-ordered community service. He and buddy Wheeler (Seann William Scott), who plays the anti-drug minotaur, are required to participate in a Big Brothers, Big Sisters-styled program called "Steady Wings." With their little brothers, of course, Danny and Wheeler learn something about themselves.

Rudd, who co-wrote the movie, makes an excellent harried protagonist, but the little brothers quickly take things over. Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse, nee McLovin), Danny's Little, is a member in good standing in a group of fantasy novel role players, who meet in the woods and fight with foam swords. Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson), who is all over the trailers, has an astonishingly foul mouth and a propensity for drawing penises over class projects to unnerve potential Bigs. The obvious lessons begin to play themselves out quickly: Ronnie must teach Wheeler to be responsible, while Augie and Danny must teach one another to be satisfied with themselves and their lives.

It's mostly funny, although some of the film's raunchier gags seem tacked on. As with most of the Apatow-derived comedies, there is a surprising tenderness and honesty to the characters' relationships with each other, but in "Role Models" it isn't quite connected to the swearing and the outrageousness. The exposed breasts and F-word acrobatics that give the movie its R-rating play like bonus footage, or deleted scenes, and none of these threads really come together by the end.

At the film's core is Danny's relationship with Augie, which grows mostly in the quiet moments between fantasy battles. A movie that is ostensibly about maturity gets a lot more out of their discussions about girls and unsupportive parents than it does from Stifler telling an 11-year-old boy about how to spot breasts without getting caught, however funny each sequence is in its own right.

But on the whole, things work, if not always together. The scenes which are meant to be touching usually are - particularly what has to be the finest cinematic moment in the history of the live-action role-playing hobby - and the scenes which are meant to make us laugh at the idea of a young black kid dressing up in a KISS costume or trying to pick up chicks usually do, and that they're together doesn't cause a lot of friction in such a light movie.