Hey, everyone. ”Moriarty” here.

Bungion Boy’s one of our longtime contributors from New York, current reigning king of the East Coast test screening. David Wain’s WET HOT AMERICAN SUMMER has picked up a lot of fans since its premiere in 2001, and I’m curious to see this one ASAP:

Hey Harry, Moriarty, etc. Bungion Boy here in New York. Just caught an early screening of the new David Wain comedy “Role Models.” They told us we were the first audience to see it but I thought I’d already read a review for it on this site. Needless to say, I thought I’d chime in with my own thoughts. One of the more prominent devices used in comedies these days is the notion of “arrested development.” Grown men acting like little boys. It’s practically become a new genre. I generally really like these films. From “Knocked Up” to the uneven but pretty funny “Step Brothers,” these films usually provide enough laughs to satisfy you before the inevitable conclusion of the boys becoming responsible men. “Role Models” isn’t new territory by any means but it was refreshing in that when the two grown men in the film are thrown into the world of young boys, they end up remaining responsible and reasonable, while still being very funny.

Paul Rudd and Sean William Scott play two energy drink representatives (merely an excuse to make jokes about energy drinks) who due to circumstances that you can observe in the trailer are forced to do 30 days of community service with a Big Brothers type program. Rudd gets paired up with a medieval enthusiast teen played, by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who doesn’t entirely play McLovin in a cape, just a little. Scott gets paired with the hilariously foul-mouthed Bobb’e J. Thompson, who some may know as the boss of Shutterbugs on Human Giant. What happens is exactly what you know will happen. First Paul and Sean hate the kids, the kids hate Paul and Sean. Then they start to like each other and have fun. Then the guys have to disappoint the kids in some way so at the end of the film they can redeem themselves. If that were all the movie had to work with… it would be “Drillbit Taylor.” ZING! But seriously folks, despite the predictable storyline, this film is very funny. Scripted by Rudd, Wain, and Ken Marino, it has a feel of part Apatow, part The State, without ever falling into the trap of being mean and crude. Rudd plays the unamused, straight-laced type, a variation on characters we’ve seen him play before but he’s just so good at it that you still laugh after the 50th time he rolls his eyes or gives a puzzled look to someone’s unintended gay remark. I’ve never been a huge fan of Sean W. Scott but after being quite impressed with him earlier this year in the underrated “The Promotion,” I became a bit more open-minded. That paid off because he was very funny in this and had a nice chemistry with Rudd as the more carefree and wild of the two. And like I said, these two guys are still more or less responsible adults, so being the wild one just means that he’s unshaven and sleeps with a lot of young women. Filling out the rest of the cast are a lot of familiar faces from the world of Wain, such as Ken Marino, Elizabeth Banks, Joe Lo Truglio, Kerri Kenney, Matt Walsh, and A.D. “I’ve heard of popcorn in the face but this is ridiculous” Miles. I also enjoyed the work here by Ken Jeong, who seems to be popping up in more and more funny comedies these days.

This movie had me laughing out loud from beginning to end, but that’s not to say it’s all gold. The biggest laughs in this movie come from the little exchanges between characters about sizes of cups at Starbucks, boob-gazing, bagel-dogs, and medieval role-playing. The scenes and situations occasionally leave something to be desired. The totally awesome Jane Lynch gets a lot of laughs, with long stretches of dialogue that seems highly improvised, but in doing that she kind of keeps jumping back and forth between being the villain of the film and their friend who is in on the joke. One minute she seems to be hitting on Scott, then in the next scene she says she’s on to them and is threatening to fire them. Both characterizations are funny, just slightly imbalanced. The finale focused a little bit too much on Rudd and his Little Brother and didn’t give as firm a resolution to Scott and Thompson. I thought there were one or two too many scenes involving the live action role-playing game LAIRE. During the second battle that Mintz-Plasse takes Rudd to I was getting fidgety, and this was still well before grand finale at yet another faux battle. Though I will admit the final battle scene is really hilarious, and the temporary use of the score from “Back to the Future” only added to the humor. That was so funny that they should find a way to keep it in if they can. This isn’t the funniest movie of the year but it will be a nice distraction from all the serious fall movies of award season. It proves Rudd can carry a movie and that Scott can be likable. I’d love for Apatow to do a film with Rudd in the center. He’s earned it by now. This could still use some tightening up but I really enjoyed it and look forward to seeing it again.

Bungion Boy