Considering their similar sensibilities and shared actors, it’s a wonder that Judd Apatow’s name is nowhere to be found on Role Models. The writer/producer of The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad, an Apatow production, is crude and perverse on the outside but always saccharine sweet in the middle, and Role Models, perhaps attempting to duplicate its success, follows this formula to a tee. What results is a consistently entertaining, if not consistently unoriginal, comedy that will still make fans of the Apatow-brand of comedy feel right at home.
In Role Models, Danny (Paul Rudd) is in a rut. A serial cynic working for the energy-drink company Minotaur, Danny cruises high schools hawking the drink under the guise of an anti-drug message with his co-worker Wheeler (Seann William Scott). The hollowness of his mission isn’t lost on Danny; the only thing he hates more than his job is himself, and after a failed proposal to his long-time girlfriend, Danny does what anyone in a similar position would do – he destroys a school monument with his Minotaur-branded monster truck. This lands Danny and Wheeler, a sort-of innocent bystander, community service mentoring young boys.
In comes Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse of Superbad) and Ronnie, two kids equally dysfunctional as well as equally resentful of the forced pairings. Predictably, Danny, Wheeler, and the kids bicker, prank and argue as they begin to spend time with each other, but if moviegoers think they know where the plot is going, Role Models has them in for a Shyamalan-like twist. Playing two emotionally stunted man-children lacking maturity or responsibility, Danny and Wheeler – get this – find out what it is to become men from their two kids, eventually overcoming their differences to learn an important life lesson, all in 90 minutes.
OK, so Role Models isn’t ripe with originality. It’s a formulaic movie whose outcome is fairly obvious 20 minutes in, but the ride isn’t any less enjoyable when the humor works. And while it often skews more crude than tactful, the humor in Role Models works.
Effortlessly funny and charismatic, the comedic spotlight shines brightest on Paul Rudd. Best known as a supporting actor who reliably steals each of his scenes, Rudd deservedly gets a starring role in Role Models and doesn’t disappoint. Playing a character that could easily have been too cold or too detached, Rudd delivers his jokes in a hilarious deadpan, transforming the should-have-been-unlikable Danny into someone worth watching.
Despite essentially playing the same character as before, Mintz-Plasse’s hopelessly nerdy McLovin routine still carries its charm. It’s also difficult to deny Role Models’ credit in uniting McLovin and Stifler in the same movie, a stroke of marketing genius that already has teenage boys high-fiving their way to the theater.
Role Models isn’t going to light the comedic landscape on fire with its creativity; in fact, the only surprise is how surprisingly well it still works. Along with its juvenile exterior, the film is also a celebration of the misfits and oddballs who either can’t or won’t fit expectations. Like the best Apatow films, it’s a balance that entirely works.
