March 19, 2009: Role Models
Role Models may seem at first blush like a Judd Apatow comedy, but as it turns out, it is not of that pedigree despite the presence of some of his regular cast (including Paul Rudd and Jane Lynch and Christopher Mintz-Plasse), and the overall immature tone but with redeeming values as pathetic yet sympathetic characters learn life lessons and grow by the end of the film.
What we’re faced with here is the story of a couple of guys who work as promoters for an energy drink, visiting schools in their bull-shaped vehicle to win over the kids. The guys lose their jobs after one of them has an out-of-control episode outside the front of a school. They are sentenced to community service, and are assigned to a “Big Brother” style agency to work off their hours. They initially clash mightily with their assigned children, but eventually end up being the only ones in these kids’ lives who treat them with respect and actually listen to them. Thus they all end up having a mutual respect for one another, the guys spend time with the kids even when the hours don’t count towards their community service, and the true meaning of friendship becomes clear. There’s lots of profanity, and the guys are horrible influences on the kids, and the scenarios are completely ridiculous. There are some really funny bits, but it’s pretty crude humour.
I normally take a bunch of notes after seeing a movie, because I’ve learned that I can fall some months behind in writing my reviews and want to at least have capture some sense of both what happened in a movie, and what I thought of it. With Role Models, I decided not to take any significant notes, and see how it went, because really, how much does it matter what I think of this movie? Will it cause my faithful readers to watch it if they weren’t going to already, or turn them off it if they weren’t already steering way clear of it?
The general consensus about Role Models seemed to be that it was far better than it should have been, all things considered. Even the positive reviews more or less admitted that the review was positive relative to the critic’s middling to low expectations. I figured I would enjoy it, since I like this kind of crap even when it’s mediocre, so there was no need to worry. And I would agree that it’s better than expected. However, I still would hestitate to recommend it to anyone who doesn’t typically go for this type of raunchy comedy, and there are numerous far better examples to point such skeptics to.
Lowbrow goofiness, but good for fans.
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