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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
64
Appaloosa
69
Ashes of Time Redux
68
August Evening
54
Battle in Seattle
76
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
70
Black Balloon, The
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
51
Breakfast with Scot
63
Changeling
84
Christmas Tale, A
xx
Dostana
62
Duchess, The
46
Dukes, The
64
Eden
xx
Extreme Movie
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
26
Filth and Wisdom
28
Fireproof
80
Frost/Nixon
43
Gardens of the Night
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
54
Good Dick
30
Guitar, The
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
31
Hounddog
26
House of the Sleeping Beauties
47
How About You
70
Hunger
72
I Served the King of England
70
I.O.U.S. A
40
Igor
78
I've Loved You So Long
64
JCVD
28
Lake City
82
Let the Right One In
32
Let Them Chirp Awhile
xx
Local Color
89
Man on Wire
34
My Name Is Bruce
29
Nobel Son
40
Other End of the Line, The
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
75
Pool, The
77
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
82
Rachel Getting Married
56
Religulous
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
53
RocknRolla
85
Slumdog Millionaire
57
Special
79
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
67
Synecdoche, New York
82
Tell No One
83
Trouble the Water
43
Tru Loved
83
U2 3D
59
We Are Wizards
55
What Just Happened?
89
Man on Wire
85
Slumdog Millionaire
84
Christmas Tale, A
84
Happy-Go-Lucky
83
Trouble the Water
83
U2 3D
82
Tell No One
82
Rachel Getting Married
82
Let the Right One In
80
Frost/Nixon
79
Stranded: I Have Come from a Plane That Crashed on the Mountains
78
I've Loved You So Long
77
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
76
Betrayal - Nerakhoon, The
75
Pool, The
73
Girl Cut in Two, A
72
I Served the King of England
70
Black Balloon, The
70
Hunger
70
I.O.U.S. A
69
Ashes of Time Redux
69
Fear(s) of the Dark
68
August Evening
67
Synecdoche, New York
64
JCVD
64
Appaloosa
64
Eden
63
Changeling
62
Duchess, The
59
We Are Wizards
57
Special
56
Religulous
55
Boy in the Striped Pajamas, The
55
What Just Happened?
54
Battle in Seattle
54
Good Dick
53
RocknRolla
51
Breakfast with Scot
47
How About You
46
Dukes, The
43
Tru Loved
43
Gardens of the Night
40
Igor
40
Other End of the Line, The
34
My Name Is Bruce
34
Otto; or Up with Dead People
32
Repo! The Genetic Opera
32
Let Them Chirp Awhile
31
Hounddog
30
Guitar, The
29
Nobel Son
28
Lake City
28
Fireproof
26
House of the Sleeping Beauties
26
Filth and Wisdom
xx
Dostana
xx
Local Color
xx
Extreme Movie
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Role Models
Universal Pictures
MPAA RATING: R for crude and sexual content, strong language and nudity
Starring
Seann William Scott,
Paul Rudd,
Christopher Mintz-Plasse,
Jane Lynch,
Bobb'e J.Thompson,
and
Elizabeth Banks
Danny and Wheeler are two salesmen who trash a company truck on an energy drink-fueled bender. Upon their arrest, the court gives them a choice: do hard time or spend 150 service hours with a mentorship program. After one day with the kids, however, jail doesn't look half bad. (Universal Pictures)
GENRE(S): |
Comedy
|
WRITTEN BY: |
David Wain
Paul Rudd
Ken Marino, Tim Dowling
W. Blake Herron
|
DIRECTED BY: |
David Wain
|
RELEASE DATE: |
Theatrical: November 7, 2008
|
RUNNING TIME: |
99 minutes, Color |
ORIGIN: |
USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
83
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
The fun of Role Models is that it's a high-concept movie executed with speed and finesse and the kind of brusquely tossed-off obscene banter that can get you laughing before you know what hit you.
75
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
It's pretty formulaic stuff, and earns its R rating with profanity and unapologetically gratuitous female nudity, but somehow has a winning knuckleheaded charm.
75
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
In its loose, ramshackle, gleefully profane first half, Role Models suggests "School Of Rock" with Tourette's, or the original "Bad News Bears" without the baseball.
75
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The kind of comedy where funny people say funny things in funny situations, not the kind of comedy that whacks you with manic shocks to force an audible Pavlovian response.
75
USA Today
Claudia Puig
Misfits and misanthropes are the heroes of Role Models, a surprisingly clever comedy.
75
Rolling Stone
Peter Travers
Sometimes a shamelessly stoopid, proudly profane R-rated comedy is all you want out of life. Role Models more than fills the bill. It's killer funny.
75
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Role Models isn't a classic like "Superbad" or as hilarious as this summer's "Step Brothers," but it's excellent fun for males in the mental age bracket of 14 to 22, which is most males.
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Peter Hartlaub
A funny and twisted movie from beginning to end, closing with an emotional payoff.
75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
The casting is the key to the success of this absolutely hilarious crowd-pleaser.
75
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
Any movie that shows its heroes firing up a joint between stints as high-school anti-drug crusaders is true to its black little heart.
75
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
Though its grosses may not soar into the realm occupied by "Superbad" and "American Pie," it has more sympathy for its characters.
75
Portland Oregonian
M. E. Russell
The surprisingly funny Role Models does three things extremely well. It gives killer roles to comic actors frequently stuck in ensembles. It directs hilariously harsh words at children and lets the children direct even harsher words back at the adults. And it's oddly determined to give a fair shake to fans of both medieval role-playing and the band Kiss.
75
TV Guide
Cammila Albertson
It does consistently remain both totally nuts and totally hilarious.
70
Washington Post
Neely Tucker
You can probably figure out how this is all going to end, but it still has more laughs than you might think. Nobody gets more than the wonderful Jane Lynch as the ex-drug addict and director of the mentoring program.
70
Slate
Dana Stevens
Role Models may not set its sights very high, but it comes by its emotional payoff honestly. And why isn't Paul Rudd in greater demand as a romantic comedy lead?
70
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
The general tone is one of crusty, unapologetic misanthropy, driven home by the formidable Rudd (who also kicked in on the script).
70
The Hollywood Reporter
John DeFore
Rudd and Scott hail from different universes of movie comedy, but manage together here just fine, particularly since each takes a different path.
70
Variety
Dennis Harvey
Laden with more than enough profane humor to warrant its R rating, this is nonetheless a formulaic crowd-pleaser.
70
Village Voice
Robert Wilonsky
Wain, Marino, and Rudd pull it off because theirs is a funnier, brainier, bawdier brand of feel-good.
67
Austin Chronicle
Josh Rosenblatt
Misanthropy in the movies has a new face. And, surprising to say, it's a handsome one. A matinee-idol face, in fact. Some might even go so far as to call it "dreamy." It's the face of Paul Rudd.
63
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
Role Models has a tart surface and a heart of goo. The movie grows more obvious as it goes along.
63
Chicago Tribune
Michael Phillips
Role Models wouldn't be anything without Mintz-Plasse, whose character occasions what may be the cinema's first really funny Marvin Hamlisch joke, and whose camera presence is at once unfailingly modest and distinctive.
50
Salon.com
Stephanie Zacharek
Isn't as uproarious as it pretends to be. The foul language, the constant repetition of words like the aforementioned "boobies" -- look, they've even got me doing it -- doesn't feel daring or cathartic, only canned.
50
ReelViews
James Berardinelli
It's disposable entertainment at its most extreme.
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
By the time the film reaches its big mushy climax, in which the slackers discover their inner caring during a dopey medieval role-playing battle, the movie starts to feel something like a pleasure again.
42
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Sean Axmaker
In this brand of comedy, nothing succeeds like excess, and this film is seriously deficient.
40
The New York Times
Stephen Holden
With the ferocity of a drill instructor and the boundless confidence of a self-help guru who combines psychobabble clichés with embarrassingly explicit confessions, Ms. Lynch's Gayle redeems the movie from utter banality.
40
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Furiously raunchy, occasionally bright and eventually benumbing comedy.
20
New York Daily News
Joe Neumaier
Where on the evolutionary scale of wacky-dudes-learn-to-grow-up movies does Role Models fall? Certainly less evolved than "Meatballs," but head and hairy knuckles above "Daddy Day Care" or "The Benchwarmers."
20
Film Threat
Matthew Sorrento
If "Models'" comedy is a bore, the characters' redemption is sheer agony – not to mention the shameless pop-cultural referencing that repeats like a bad taco.
The average user rating for this movie is 7.4 (out of 10) based on 28 User Votes
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