Role Models

    Paul Rudd co-wrote the screenplay with Director David Wain and some of it is funny. The best parts of this often humorous vignette regarding these two losers; Rudd as Danny Donahue and Sean William Scott as simply Wheeler, is when they meet with "Big Brother" like Director Gayle Sweeney, played by veteran comedienne Jane Lynch. Jane Lynch has done allot of TV, but she is best known in the more recent "mockumentaries" created by Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer, such as "Best in Show," "For your Consideration" and "A Mighty Wind." Now they were funny.

    "Role Models," not so much. This comedy has more of a "Pineapple Express," "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" feel to it. The humor is rather crude, which supposes that the all families and people that live this within this comedy are rather crude, and that is totally unrealistic. In all comedies, there needs to be more than a hint of realism for them to be truly funny to a wider range of people. "Role Models" may work better for younger, less experienced audiences, but for some of us, we may be a bit wise to its theatrical techniques. Some comedy uses shock value can be effective in limited doses, but "Role Models" went a bit too far, which made the whole plot unbelievable.

    Besides the scenes with Jane Lynch, which are admittedly very crude, the whole medieval fantasy role-play lifestyle of troubled kid Augie Farks, played by Christopher Mintz - Plasse was quite humorous in the depth of commitment of the legions of fantasy geeks that share this lifestyle. This may be cinematic first to spend so much a movie to mine this form of geek humor. This part of the movie worked ... enough to make it recommendable, but certainly no classic.

    Rated R at 101 minutes of runtime. Released on DVD March 10, 2009.