A superbly cast comedy that for the most part successfully balances a surface crassness with the requisite eventual emotional maturation and bonding of more conventional mainstream fare, Role Models manages to locate and till fresh ground in the ascendant guys-behaving-badly sub-genre of American studio comedies.

Anson Wheeler (Seann William Scott) and Danny Donahue (Paul Rudd) are a pair of Minotaur
Energy Drink reps who make their living traveling from school to
school peddling their product as a hip, safe alternative to drugs. For
unrepentant ladies man Wheeler, this is the high life. Danny, however,
is bitter and listless. Haranguing coffee shop employees over the
language they use to sell their product, he has a sardonic,
hair-trigger temper that frustrates his live-in, long-time lawyer
girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks).

When a public outburst lands the duo community service, Danny and
Wheeler are assigned to “Sturdy Wings,” a mentorship program run by a
former addict (Jane Lynch). There, Danny is paired with Augie
(Christopher Mintz-Plasse), an introverted teenager obsessed with medieval,
live-action interactive role-play, and Wheeler is paired with the
younger Ronnie (Bobb’e J. Thompson), a fatherless kid prone to foul-mouthed
outbursts. Various mishaps ensue. Initially attempting to just bide
their time and clock the necessary hours to fulfill their
court-mandated obligation, Danny and Wheeler soon find themselves
caring, against their previous instincts.

Multi-hyphenate David Wain, who honed his skills with the comedy
collective The State, has impeccable skill at crafting self-contained
scenes, but neither does he sell out the nature of his characters in
any of these discrete bits, as in so often the case in small screen
sitcoms.

A big part of Role Models‘ success stems simply from the superb comic
timing and expertly orchestrated interactions of its cast, who are for
the most part very familiar with one another. Rudd, who receives his
first screenplay credit on Role Models, has a working history with his
co-writers dating back to 2001’s summer camp send-up Wet Hot American
Summer, which also served as Wain’s directorial debut.

But there’s also much to be said for the quality of the banter and the
specificity of the often age-inappropriate commentaries that inform
Danny and Wheeler’s attempts to relate to their young pupils (eyeing
Augie with exasperation, Danny invokes comparison to composer Marvin
Hamlisch, while Wheeler at one point imparts explicit insight about the
sexual metaphor of Kiss’ “Love Gun”). Some of the set-ups feel familiar, and the film’s energy does flag a
bit when required to highlight a moment of growth, as when Danny tells
off Augie’s parents. Still, the across-the-board strength of the
performances makes these pop-storytelling concessions easy enough to
swallow. Rudd’s seething deadpan resentment and Scott’s libidinal
recklessness make for a fun pairing. For the full review, from Screen International, click here. (Universal, R, 99 minutes)