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Courtesy Universal Pictures

This Issue 11/06/2008

• No Reminder Necessary
• Ego of the Week: Josh Acheatel and Jeff Fronek
• Food Myths Debunked
• Word on the Street: As the election cools down, where's the new heat?
• In Case You Missed It: Life In Boxes

It’s an ode to dorks. Referencing everything from L.A.R.P.-ing (live action role playing) to KISS trivia, Role Models brings out the pedant in us all. Energy drink-promoting Wheeler (Seann William Scott) and Danny (Paul Rudd) crash their truck into a horse statue and are sentenced to 150 hours of community service mentoring kids at Sturdy Wings, a Big Brother/Big Sisters-type program. What makes Role Models such a smart and different comedy though is not the story. The brilliance lies somewhere in between the biting one-liners and the comedians who deliver them.

Paul Rudd has played the disgruntled character time and time again, but Danny is different: Rudd makes this character vulnerable. He’s helped by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who drops his McLovin persona and picks up some true thespian talent playing Augie Farks, Danny’s protege, a loner L.A.R.P. loving teen. As much as both of Augie's worlds (that of his discouraging mom and stepdad in the real world and that of the self-obsessed king in his fantasy world) try to bring him down, he retains incredible strength and courage. And let’s not forget Scott who gives his Stifleresque character a real heart.

There are few people who can get away with a film like this, but David Wain pulls it off. This Apatow-family spin-off is a breath of fresh air from the sophomoric comedies that we've grown all too accustomed to.