Role Models

  • 2009-02-04
  • By Monika Hanley

UNSUNG HERO: Role-playing scenes seem to dominate the second half of the film, as the role model is drawn into the fantasy life of his charge.

Director: David Wain

The film begins as most movies with Sean William Scott do 's with some rock music and pot smoking.
But do not let that first impression fool you. The movie quickly veers away from the "stoner-movie" genre. In fact, I'm convinced that the title "Role Models" is actual a hint at the role-playing that seems to take over the movie. And by role playing I don't mean role-reversal 's I mean cape-wearing, sword-wielding, medieval mishmash.

The film starts out innocently enough. The two stars, Sean William Scott (of "American Pie" fame) and Paul Rudd (of "40 year-old Virgin" and "Knocked Up") are Minotaur Energy Drink promoters going from school to school telling kids to drink their product and stay off drugs.
However, when negative-nancy Paul Rudd proposes to his girlfriend and gets dumped, things just start going down hill. After a particularly depressing gig, the Minotaur mobile gets towed and Rudd tries to stop it, ending up damaging a fountain in front of the school.

As punishment, both he and his accessory Scott end up at "Sturdy Wings" doing community service by being "big brothers." Sounds innocent enough, but the duo gets paired with a breast-obsessed 10 year-old and a teen whose role-playing fantasy life is all he knows.
Both men go into the situation not really caring about their difficult "littles," and end up caring quite a bit after witnessing the kids' unhappy home life. 

There's some romance, some bitterness over America's coffee culture and some heart-warming moments. Mostly though, there's a lot of whining and realizing that role-playing games and the middle-ages are actually an alright way to spend time.

Viewers may wonder how it is exactly that a movie portrayed as a stoner flick could turn so quickly into a "nerdy-underdog-saves-the-day" type deal, but it's very simple. The entire second half of the movie is centered on epic role-playing battle scenes. Director and writer Wain may have been devoted to writing a stellar script, got some writer's block and went out to play some Dungeons and Dragons with his fellow writer Paul Rudd 's and this movie is the result.

Despite the almost unnecessary amount of swearing by the kids in the movie, it actually has a good message.

Now showing in Latvia

 

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