Last Year's Models

I saw this year's new Paul Rudd film, I Love You Man, in theaters, but I missed last year's Role Models the first time around. Now I'm all caught up.

Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott star in this comedy about two guys sentenced to a month of community service working as mentors for a pair of kids -- one of them the immortal "McLovin" from Superbad. There's plenty of juvenile humor, and some good laughs along the way too.

Both the leads are good, but neither is at the top of their game here. Seann William Scott isn't half as funny as he was in American Pie or Road Trip, while Paul Rudd was better in his newer movie (the aforementioned I Love You Man). The two kids are good, but the real scene stealer is Jane Lynch, in a silly-wacky performance as the founder of the mentor organization. (If you don't know her by name, I'll bet you've seen her in a movie or two.)

The script is funny at times, but it also bogs down a bit too much in Live Action Role Playing. One of the kids is a LARPer, and a rather large amount of the plot is dedicated to his hobby. The jokes are at their weakest when the movie is dwelling on the Renaissance Festival-like atmosphere of the LARP group's gatherings.

Overall, I still give the movie a B-. It could be worth seeing if you haven't, but I'd sooner steer you toward I Love You Man for a better story and more consistent laughs.