''Role Models'' is a 2008 American
comedy film
A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending (black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the ol ...
directed by
David Wain, who co-wrote it with Timothy Dowling,
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ...
and
Ken Marino
Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as ''Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', ''Burning Love'', and ''Childre ...
. The film follows two
energy drink salesmen who are ordered to perform 150 hours of
community service
Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performed ...
as punishment for various offenses. For their service, the two men work at a program designed to pair children with adult
role model
A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves ...
s. The film stars
Seann William Scott
Seann William Scott (born October 3, 1976) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Steve Stifler in the '' American Pie'' franchise, and also for his role as Doug Glatt in both '' Goon'' and '' Goon: Last of the Enforcers''. He has al ...
,
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ...
,
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse (; born June 20, 1989) is an American actor and comedian. He has performed roles such as Fogell (McLovin) in '' Superbad'' (2007), Augie Farcques in '' Role Models'' (2008), and Chris D'Amico in '' Kick-Ass'' (20 ...
,
Bobb'e J. Thompson
Bobb'e Jacques Thompson (born February 28, 1996) is an American actor, rapper and comedian.
Career
Thompson is known for playing Tracy Jr. on ''30 Rock''; his role as child trickster Stanley on ''That's So Raven'' and its first spin-off ''Cor ...
,
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series ''Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recogni ...
and
Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...
.
Plot
Danny and Wheeler are salesmen promoting the
energy drink "Minotaur", supposedly to keep kids off
drugs
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...
. Wheeler loves the job, while Danny considers it pointless and
dead-end, making him
depressed and jaded. Danny's uncouth behavior results in the collapse of his relationship with Beth, who breaks up with him after an impulsive proposal.
After a botched presentation at a high school, Danny and Wheeler's Minotaur truck is towed from the no-parking zone. Danny tries to free the truck, almost hitting a security guard then crashing into a statue. They are arrested and charged.
Beth makes a deal with the judge: they must do 150 hours of community service over the next 30 days, in lieu of 30 days in jail. Their service is with Sturdy Wings, a big brother-big sister program led by Gayle Sweeny, a recovering addict. She warns them that if they fail to meet her requirements they will be sent to prison. Wheeler is given Ronnie Shields, a vulgar young boy who has driven away all the other "Bigs" he has been paired with. Danny is assigned Augie Farks, a shy teen obsessed with a
medieval
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the Post-classical, post-classical period of World history (field), global history. It began with t ...
LARPG called "LAIRE" (Live Action Interactive Role-playing Explorers).
Danny doesn't find common ground with Augie, while Ronnie dislikes Wheeler. Danny considers giving up and choosing jail, but Wheeler talks him out of it. Gradually bonding with their "littles"; Ronnie and Wheeler talk about having been abandoned by their fathers, while Danny learns about Augie's medieval fantasy realm. Ronnie hears about Wheeler's favorite band,
Kiss
A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...
, and discovers that Wheeler shares his
obsession with breasts, which Wheeler teaches him to control. Danny and Augie bond discovering they are both involved in the Sturdy Wings program against their will. Danny joins Augie's LAIRE and tries to get back with Beth, who insists "it is for the best".
However, their good luck is short-lived. When Augie sneaks up on the King of LAIRE, Argotron, the King lies and tells everyone that he killed Augie. Defending Augie, Danny confronts and shoves the King, getting them banned from LAIRE permanently. Later, Danny insults Augie's mother and her boyfriend for not supporting Augie, earning their hatred. As they kick Danny out of the house, Danny retorts, "I'd be psyched if he was my kid." Meanwhile, Wheeler takes Ronnie to a party, but leaves him unsupervised, resulting in Ronnie walking home alone. When both kids' parents ask Sturdy Wings for new mentors, Gayle expels Danny and Wheeler from the program, resulting in both men failing to complete their community service. Although Beth agrees to defend Danny and Wheeler in court, she warns them that they will most likely go to jail.
Danny convinces King Argotron to allow him and Augie to fight in the battle royale. Wheeler gets permission from Karen to hang out with Ronnie after he gets out of jail, and Ronnie forgives him. However, the King secretly warns the other members of Augie's LAIRE "country" of Xanthia that allowing Augie to fight with them will lead to severe retribution in the game. They call Augie to tell him he is a liability and out of the group. Danny and Augie form a new LAIRE country by asking Wheeler and Ronnie to join them. They arrive with Wheeler's Kiss costumes and a Kiss-themed Minotaur truck, naming their country "Kiss-My-Anthia". Augie finally defeats the king, but Sarah, a hidden player who goes by Esplen in LAIRE, attacks and defeats Augie; crowned the new queen, she chooses Augie as her king-consort. Augie's parents forgive Danny.
Impressed that Wheeler and Danny care for the children, Gayle clears their names with the judge. Danny serenades Beth with a rendition of the Kiss song "
Beth" and they reconcile.
Cast
![Seann William Scott at the Austin Film Festival promoting Role Models in October 2008](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c6/Seann_William_Scott_at_the_Austin_Film_Festival_promoting_Role_Models_in_October_2008.jpg)
*
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd (born April 6, 1969) is an American actor. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, before making his acting debut in 1991. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in ...
as Danny
*
Seann William Scott
Seann William Scott (born October 3, 1976) is an American actor. He is known for his role as Steve Stifler in the '' American Pie'' franchise, and also for his role as Doug Glatt in both '' Goon'' and '' Goon: Last of the Enforcers''. He has al ...
as Wheeler
*
Christopher Mintz-Plasse
Christopher Charles Mintz-Plasse (; born June 20, 1989) is an American actor and comedian. He has performed roles such as Fogell (McLovin) in '' Superbad'' (2007), Augie Farcques in '' Role Models'' (2008), and Chris D'Amico in '' Kick-Ass'' (20 ...
as Augie
*
Bobb'e J. Thompson
Bobb'e Jacques Thompson (born February 28, 1996) is an American actor, rapper and comedian.
Career
Thompson is known for playing Tracy Jr. on ''30 Rock''; his role as child trickster Stanley on ''That's So Raven'' and its first spin-off ''Cor ...
as Ronnie
*
Elizabeth Banks
Elizabeth Banks (born Elizabeth Irene Mitchell; February 10, 1974) is an American actress and filmmaker. She is known for playing Effie Trinket in ''The Hunger Games'' film series (2012–2015) and Gail Abernathy-McKadden in the ''Pitch Perfe ...
as Beth
*
Jane Lynch
Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series ''Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recogni ...
as Gayle
*
Ken Jeong
Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong (, ; born July 13, 1969) is an American actor, stand-up comedian, producer, writer and licensed physician. He rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in ''The Hangover'' film series (2009–2013) and Ben Chang in the ...
as King Argotron
*
Kerri Kenney-Silver
Kerri Kenney-Silver (born January 20, 1970) is an American actress, comedian, writer, singer, and musician. She is best known for starring as Trudy Wiegel on the mockumentary series ''Reno 911!'' and previously for her sketch comedy work on MTV ...
as Lynette
*
Ken Marino
Kenneth Joseph Marino (born December 19, 1968) is an American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter. He was a cast member on MTV's ''The State'' and has starred in shows such as ''Party Down'', '' Marry Me'', ''Burning Love'', and ''Childre ...
as Jim
*
Nicole Randall Johnson
Nicole Randall Johnson (born December 9, 1973) is an American actress, writer and producer. Johnson is most notable for her membership in the recurring cast of performers on the sketch comedy series ''MADtv''.
Biography
Johnson was born in Los ...
as Karen
*
A.D. Miles as Martin Gary
*
Joe Lo Truglio
Joseph Vincent Lo Truglio (; born December 2, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, writer and producer. Best known for his role as Charles Boyle on the Fox/NBC sitcom '' Brooklyn Nine-Nine'', he also was a cast member on the television series ' ...
as Kuzzik
*
Vincent Martella
Vincent Michael Martella (born October 15, 1992) is an American actor best known for providing the voice of Phineas Flynn in the Disney Channel original animated show ''Phineas and Ferb'', which ran from 2007 to 2015. He is also known for his ro ...
as Artonius
*
Matt Walsh as Davith of Glencracken
*
Allie Stamler as Sarah/Queen Esplen
*
Jessica Morris
Jessica Morris (born in Jacksonville, Florida ) is an American actress.
Career
After several small film and television roles, Morris was cast as the dysfunctional Jennifer Rappaport on the ABC soap opera, '' One Life to Live'', a role she portr ...
as Linda the Teacher
*
Carly Craig
Carly Craig (born June 12, 1980) is an American actress.
Background
Born and raised in San Diego, California, Craig comes from a large Italian-Irish family that includes two professional baseball players: her father, Rocky Craig, a scout for the ...
as Connie
*
Keegan-Michael Key
Keegan-Michael Key (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. He co-created and co-starred alongside Jordan Peele in Comedy Central's sketch series ''Key & Peele'' (2012–2015) and co-starred in USA Netw ...
as Duane
*
Amanda Righetti
Amanda Righetti (born April 4, 1983) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Grace Van Pelt on ''The Mentalist'', as well as her roles in '' Friday the 13th'', ''The O.C.'' and ''Colony''.
Early life
The youngest of eight children, ...
as Isabel
*
Jorma Taccone
Jorma Christopher Taccone (; born March 19, 1977) is an American comedian, director, actor, and writer. He is one-third of the sketch comedy troupe The Lonely Island, with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Akiva Schaffer. In 2010, Taccone co-wro ...
as Mitch from Graphics
*
Armen Weitzman
Armen Weitzman (born December 19, 1983) is an American actor and comedian best known for playing Garfield in the Comedy Central series ''Another Period''.
Early life
Weitzman was born and raised in Los Angeles, California, the son of lawyer Howa ...
as Party Dude
*
Elijah Polanco as Ronnie's Friend
* Nate Hartley as Rule Master
*
Louis C.K.
Louis Alfred Székely (; born September 12, 1967), known professionally as Louis C.K. (), is an American stand-up comedian, screenwriter, actor, and filmmaker. C.K. won three Peabody Awards, three Grammy Awards, six Primetime Emmy Awards, and a ...
as School Liaison
Production
The film was originally announced in December 2006 under the title ''Big Brothers'', with
Luke Greenfield
Luke Greenfield (born February 5, 1972) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for directing the 2004 film '' The Girl Next Door''. Greenfield directed the pilot episode of the television series ''Aliens in ...
directing and Timothy Dowling writing the script.
A January 22, 2007, draft of the script credits Moses Port and David Guarascio as writers, with no listing of Dowling.
During promotion for the film ''
Knocked Up
''Knocked Up'' is a 2007 American romantic comedy film written, co-produced and directed by Judd Apatow, and starring Seth Rogen, Katherine Heigl, Paul Rudd, and Leslie Mann. It follows the repercussions of a drunken one-night stand between a sl ...
'', Paul Rudd revealed that shooting on ''Big Brothers'' was on hiatus while the script was being retooled.
News was later revealed that Rudd was commissioned to write a new draft of the script and
David Wain had signed on to direct.
Wain later revealed the film was now titled ''Little Big Men''.
UniversalPictures.com listed the film under the final title ''Role Models'', which made its release on November 7, 2008.
It was pre-screened at the University of Maryland's Hoff Theater on October 30, 2008, to positive accord.
A
running gag
A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Though they are similar, catchphrases are not ...
in the film is a song entitled "Love Take Me Down (to the Streets)", which is claimed by Martin to be by the band
Wings
A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...
. In the initial scene at the Sturdy Wings building, Martin begins singing the song, which he claims is "one of their hits from the '70s", a fact which Danny denies. During the credits, the song plays and is listed on the film soundtrack as being performed by "Not Wings". The song was written by Charles Gansa, a composer who worked on the film, and
A. D. Miles, who plays Martin in the film. It was written to imitate the style of the music of Wings and performed by Joey Curatolo, a
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
soundalike who performs in the
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
tribute band
Rain
Rain is water droplets that have condensed from atmospheric water vapor and then fall under gravity. Rain is a major component of the water cycle and is responsible for depositing most of the fresh water on the Earth. It provides water f ...
.
Release
Box office
''Role Models'' opened #2 at the box office behind ''
Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa'' with $19.2 million. The film made a total of $67,300,955 domestically and $25,201,210 in foreign countries, for a total of $92,502,165 worldwide.
Critical response
''Role Models'' was met with generally positive reviews. On
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has a rating of 77%, based on 162 reviews. The site's consensus reads, "''Role Models'' is a frequently crude, always funny comedy with the cast providing solid work throughout." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film holds a rating of 61 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally positive reviews".
In their year end review,
IGN
''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
awarded ''Role Models'' with "Best Comedy Film of 2008".
Eye Weekly
''Eye Weekly'' was a free weekly newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was owned by Torstar, the parent company of the ''Toronto Star'', and was published by their Star Media Group until its final issue on May 5, 2011. The following ...
selected ''Role Models'' as one of the best films of 2008.
Home media
The DVD was released on March 10, 2009, selling 1,028,207 during its first week generating $17,469,237 in revenue. As of August 10, 2011 the DVD sold 2,555,713 copies and brought in over $40 million in revenue.
References
External links
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{{Scott Stuber
2008 films
2000s buddy comedy films
American buddy comedy films
Films about friendship
Films directed by David Wain
Films produced by Scott Stuber
Films with screenplays by Paul Rudd
Relativity Media films
Universal Pictures films
2008 comedy films
2000s English-language films
2000s American films