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Film Reviews

ROLE MODELS

By • Nov 16th, 2008 •

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Dynamic Jane Lynch must get her own movie franchise. George, Brad, what are you waiting for?

Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott) are typical buddies we all know so well from movies. Danny has a high-achieving girlfriend, she’s a lawyer, Beth (Elizabeth Banks, doesn’t she ever stop working?), and Wheeler just likes to have sex with anyone willing to have sex with him. Danny hates his life. Wheeler thinks life is great!

For Wheeler, they have the absolute best job in the world: they are spokespersons for an energy drink. They go around to schools and tell the kids not to take drugs but drink Minotaur. They have a monster truck with a Minotaur on the top. When Beth dumps Danny, not because of his lack of a future or his lack of income, but for his lack of happiness, he freaks out at work. He destroys public property with the monster truck. Beth gets Danny and Wheeler community service instead of prison. They are to spend 150 hours as Big Brothers for a program run by former drug addict, Gayle (Jane Lynch).

Danny is teamed up with Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Wheeler is given Ronnie (Bobb’e J. Thompson). Augie is immersed in a Dungeons & Dragons fantasy world and Ronnie is a fatherless kid who has a dirty mouth that would enrage Gordon Ramsay. Ronnie’s mother hasn’t told her son to stop using the F-word. For Wheeler, this is easy time served but Danny is miserable.

A friend’s wife of 10 years got addicted to one of those online fantasy worlds. She spent days online in a fantasy world. She had a fancy name and had her very own kingdom. She ran off with a 16-year-old boy in her fantasy kingdom. In love, she brought him from Kansas to California. My friend met him. He had wild red hair, acne, and lived with his parents. My friend got divorced.

You know the rest of the movie. So let’s move on from the plot. Paul Rudd has had enough practice at the formula to co-write one. He has done a very nice job and ROLE MODELS is quite funny. Or is it the bad language?

Scott is likeable here! How did that happened? He’s softer and more casual and the director showcases him nicely. But the above review is merely an excuse to praise Jane Lynch. This is her movie. What a divine character they have created for her. I usually adore everything she does (even “The L Word”), except her role in THE ROCKER. Maybe she did the role because a friend asked her to. Lynch stole THE 40-YEAR OLD VIRGIN, and Rudd was smart to give her Gayle. Lynch takes the character and gives her oxygen. I’d see ROLD MODELS again, just for her performance.

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