Jon Heder has been skating by on wan iterations (Just Like Heaven, The Benchwarmers) of his inspired turn in that movie. It didn’t even seem like he was really looking to stretch. School for Scoundrels, in which he stars opposite Billy Bob Thornton, provides the first real glimmer of possible long-term career sustainability. He plays a doofus New York City parking enforcement officer (OK, I’ll say it: meter maid) beset by low esteem, sure, but halfway through the film he grows a pair and launches into a battle with Thornton for the romantic attentions of Jacinda Barrett, who must really be thankful that Rachel McAdams isn’t working more. I hate to still give any traffic to them, but for the full review of the movie, from IGN, click here.

Kevin Costner and Ashton Kutcher’s The Guardian examines the relationship between a veteran Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer and one of his headstrong young charges, each naturally haunted by their own dark secret. A potentially fresh setting and some quality FX work is counterbalanced by a dutiful insistence to hit all beats of synthetic conflict, and cram in a pointless love story as well. This is a flick for boomers if ever there were one. You can almost see the suburban dad who really loved Field of Dreams firing it up on DVD for a “date night” with his wife the weekend the kids are at the lake house with their friends. For the full review, from FilmStew, click here.