Paul Rudd and the notoriously funny and hormonally-charged Sean William Scott are the tag-team role model duo Danny and Wheeler. They are the traveling salesmen of Minotaur, an energy drink that bears a striking resemblance to Red Bull.
The movie starts on a high note with our duo making their rounds, going to various high schools to promote Minotaur. Wheeler is the half-bull half-man Minotaur mascot, jumping around in the background like a fool, as his partner Danny delivers a blurb about how kids should drink Minotaur instead of taking drugs. They are your true blue American role models, yes?
Wheeler just loves the suit and gets a kick being in it all day. Danny hates life and people in general, and reaches his near-breaking point when his girlfriend breaks up with him, because of his attitude towards her and life.
Things come to a head for this dastardly duo when Danny and Wheeler try to drive their Minotaur truck out of a tow truck to escape being towed and end up assaulting a police officer.
They land up in court and the judgment passed is that they spend 150 hours each serving at a Big Brother/mentor facility or going to jail for a month. Of course, they choose the former and now, here come the Role Models.
The rest of the movie spent illustrating every parent’s biggest nightmare: immoral mentors for their little sons. Wheeler is consistently educating his kid on the physical attributes of the opposite sex while Danny is forced to accompany his kid on strange fantasy excursions (this is probably the most original and unpredictable part of the film).
But of course in the end, all the shenanigans gives way to friendship, love, acceptance of others and oneself. Sounds like a Disney ending, but be not fooled: this movie is anything but it. It carries an NC-16 rating here in Singapore, but most parents would probably give it an M-18 rating, thanks to the barrage of crude humour, nudity and language.
Christopher Mintz-Plasse, from the movie Superbad plays one of the little brothers. One cannot help but think back to the toilet humor and depraved characters of Superbad as one watches Role Models. If you’re looking for a very, very light-hearted trashy comedy, that might make you laugh, then you might not mind killing a couple of hours with Role Models.
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