Role Models 2008

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: Still, it's not complete torture -- even when exerting minimal effort, Paul Rudd is hilarious. Read more

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: I really had a lot of fun. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Role Models wobbles like crazy en route to a surprisingly strong finish. Read more

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: The script's rampant wrongness would have been amusing enough on the page, but the delivery from the cast makes the material consistently laugh-out-loud funny. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The general tone is one of crusty, unapologetic misanthropy, driven home by the formidable Rudd (who also kicked in on the script). Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: Something bizarre starts to happen around the halfway mark, perhaps because no one knew how to develop the original premise. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: It's not the best comedy of the season, but it's far from the worst, and some days that's more than enough. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: In Role Models, Wain buys into the sturdy commercial formulas he's spent his career mocking, but the results are so winning that they threaten to give selling out a good name. Read more

Randy Cordova, Arizona Republic: Role Models deals in the kind of overgrown frat-boy humor that is sometimes funny, sometimes stupid. Here, it is pretty evenly split between the two camps, though stupid may have a slight edge. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Role Models plays well within the Judd Apatow playpen, but its shaggy-dog dyspepsia renders it both less commercial and a little more dangerous, and Rudd is why. He's W.C. Fields trapped in the body of Cary Grant. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Role Models crosses plenty of familiar territory, but Wain and his merry band of mischief-makers offer a likeable, laughable mix of testosterone and heart. Read more

Tom Charity, CNN.com: Rudd and Scott aren't stretching any new muscles, but Rudd's glum disaffection and Scott's bozo bonhomie do gel with a satisfying stickiness. They handle the gaping innuendo with such delicacy we know that they know they're better than this. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: Filth and sentimentality -- the yin- yang combo of current guy comedy -- entwine in Role Models with the naughty bits overpowering the funny. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: A riotous comedy from director David Wain. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: 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. Read more

Laremy Legel, Film.com: Role Models could have been another formulaic comedy, fresh off the assembly line. Instead, the work of Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott here is worthy of praise and one of the funnier films this year. Read more

Rafer Guzman, Newsday: Rudd, who co-wrote the script with director David Wain (among others), clearly learned a few things working on Judd Apatow comedies. Read more

Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger: Lynch's scenes as the chipper 12-stepping counselor -- who always seems a little too eager to talk about her days before sobriety -- are pretty hilarious. Read more

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News: Like its main characters, the movie is simply stuck on stupid. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: You stand a fair chance of emerging from the movie with your lack of faith in humanity unchallenged. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: As funny as some bits are, the best you can say about Role Models is that it's imitation Apatow. It lacks the master's crude touch. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: It's pretty formulaic stuff, and earns its R rating with profanity and unapologetically gratuitous female nudity, but somehow has a winning knuckleheaded charm. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: While Role Models can boast the occasionally funny joke, there's little else to recommend this derivative buddy film. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Role Models is the kind of movie you don't see every day, a comedy that is funny. Read more

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com: The equivalent of trying to sneak an issue of Newsweek into the house, rolled up inside a copy of Mad magazine. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: It's hard to remember a recent comedy that piled one memorable moment after another near the ending as this one does. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Like any formula, it can work if done well, and Role Models is strewn with enough serendipities to make it a worthy variation on the dudes-grow-up genre. Read more

Daniel Getahun, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Although it delivers a consistent dose of chuckles, you can't help but wonder if Role Models falls short of its potential. Read more

Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Role Models follows a well-worn path, but thanks to a sure-footed cast and crew, it doesn't just go through the motions. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: At times, there's a sense the writers are trying to shoehorn sexual crudity into the plot to hit the young male market, but that feels uncomfortably out of place in a movie about helping children. Read more

Jason Anderson, Toronto Star: There are three things that every modern screen comedy needs: references to old KISS songs, guys dressed as knights whacking each other with foam swords, and a potty-mouthed 10-year-old. Read more

David Fear, Time Out: Read more

Tom Huddlestone, Time Out: 'Role Models' isn't trying to reinvent the wheel, just polish it up a little. What emerges is a memorable slice of modern slapstick, with charm to spare and just a touch of soul. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: Role Models is a rare mainstream buddy comedy that deftly blends the endearing and the vulgar and intersperses raucous humor with subtle wit. Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: If the material has a formulaic feel and the dialogue often skews more rude than clever, Role Models nonetheless amuses throughout. That's in large part due to the stars, whose roles very much play to their familiar comic strengths. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice: Paul Rudd wears the constant look of glazed-eye amusement; everything seems to tickle him, even that which annoys or frustrates or disappoints him. Read more

Neely Tucker, Washington Post: You can probably figure out how this is all going to end, but it still has more laughs than you might think. Read more