Role Models

Review by Loc

What’s the anatomy of an adult comedy? If you asked a Hollywood exec, the answer begins and ends with one name: Judd Apatow. However, what if we eschew random male genitalia and demand more than unpolished comedic leads, maybe we get more legitimately laugh-out-loud moments in a movie. So, my idea is this: let Paul Rudd write a flick with his deadpan, cynical voice coming through, have him play himself, cast Stifler from American Pie as more adult Stiffler, put in some kids, make one of them swear a lot, and see what you get. Wait, they already did that? Dammmitt. Quick hit: Role Models is funny adult comedy.

Let’s go back to Paul Rudd. This is the background funny guy in a couple of those Apatow comedies. In Anchorman, he was the sex-panther cologne guy. In 40 Year Old Vigin, he was the porn-collecting, obsessed-with-the-ex guy. Rudd is a funny guy and I’m guessing he’s mostly playing himself in Role Models. He’s deadpan as he finds himself unsatisfied with the pseudo elementary school motivational speaker who’s hocking energy drinks to kids. He’s got a small heart of gold that maybe can be teased out.

On to Seann William Scott, aka Stifler. Imagine Stifler slightly more mature, grown up as Rudd’s wingman in pitching Minotaur energy drinks. Yup, he’s the guy who would dress up as the Minotaur mascot and be fine with his lot in life. He’s the everlasting bachelor, a guy looking for chicks as his goal in life.

So, with these seemingly one-dimensional characters, what do they offer in Role Models? The deliver the perfect vehicles for slightly vulgar, adult themed comedy. After an ideally horrible morning, Rudd goes a little batsh*t crazy by arguing with a tow truck driver, pushing a police officer, and trying to reclaim his Minotaur truck by driving it up the school statue. Stifler is an innocent bystander caught up in the mess, and both find themselves sentenced to community service in lieu of jail time. Thus, we end up at the fictitious Sturdy Wings, a big brother/little brother organization where Rudd and Stifler are paired with a fantasy geek and foul-mouthed youth respectively.

Beyond that, you don’t need much more set up. You get Rudd’s negativity overdrive as he deals with kids and adults participating in a cosplay dungeons and dragons world. You get Stifler teaching the foul mouthed youth the ways of the pick-up artist, both connecting on the same maturity level. Mix in some hijinks at a camping trip, a bad party, and the redemption and acceptance into the world of LAIRE participants, and you have yourself a cookie cutter flick.

However, the situations and humor are very entertaining. This is the type of humor that adult comedies are made of, a little nudity, lots of swearing, and inappropriate adult responses to snot-nosed kids. It’s a formula that worked well in the past, but shifted to extremes to get more gasping, gross-out laughs in recent years. Scale it back, deliver a funny story with a pinch of redemption, and you’re good to go.

Overall, Role Models is funny stuff. Imagine American Pie, but older. It’s an adult comedy, a flick that should be seen by adults as an escape to their daily grinds. This isn’t about pushing limits or challenging the nudity boundaries in American cinema. Rather, it’s a big screw you, I just want to make this a funny film flick. Out of 150 community service hours, Role Models completes 105 mandatory hours. It’s funny stuff.