‘Role Models,’ one of the funniest comedies of the Aughts, turns 15

Moping Paul Rudd, KISS, and LARPing came together to produce a standout comedy in 2008.

Paul Rudd, nearly 30 years into his acting career, has kept up his reputation as one of the more universally liked figures in Hollywood, equally comfortable in Marvel movies, serious dramas, and broad comedies like Anchorman. 

In November of 2008 — days after the election of Barack Obama, and 15 years ago today — Rudd debuted his best comedy of all, David Wain’s Role Models. The film succeeded in combining the DNA of an inspirational mentorship movie with that of a broad comedy, one that offered Rudd as he’s rarely been seen before or since. 

In the film, Rudd played his character, Danny, as a cynical, depressed jerk. It was an against-type role for the actor that allowed him to play very well opposite co-star Seann William Scott, and it worked, thanks to Rudd’s deadpan performance and solid writing (the script is credited to Wain, Rudd, Ken Marino, and Timothy Dowling.) 

Role Models gets off to a great start: Rudd and Scott play Danny and Wheeler, who work for an anti-drug campaign in schools that’s actually a poorly disguised ad campaign for an energy drink called Minotaur. This ends with their firing and arrest, and with Danny getting dumped by his lawyer girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) because of his dour demeanor and poor attitude. 

In order to avoid jail, the two men are assigned 150 hours of community service with a Big Brothers-like program called Sturdy Wings. Wheeler’s charge is Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson), a young Black kid who masks his sadness about the departure of his father with creative, nonstop vulgarity. Danny, meanwhile, supervises a high school-aged nerd named Angie (played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, best known as McLovin from Superbad), who’s into medieval live-action role-play. 

Having a kid (or an elderly person) yell out expletives is normally a huge cliche, but Thompson found uncommon depth in the role, while Mintz-Plasse managed to play his second all-time nerd part in as many years. 

Role Models is one of the comedies that runs on all cylinders. There are at least a dozen quotable one-liners. The physical comedy is outstanding. The supporting cast goes deep, including a small turn from Jane Lynch, who’s the funniest she’s ever been in her life.

Numerous alums from Slate join with their fellow alum Wain, including Marino and Kerri Kenny-Silver as Mintz-Plasse’s stepfather and mother.) And the film even finds an unlikely synthesis between LARPing and KISS, probably the movies’ first: 

I didn’t think there would be a funnier KISS moment in the movie than the exchange about how “ I didn't know Jews could sing like that”/“No, no, they couldn't at the time. That's why they had to dress like clowns,” but I was proven wrong. And while it gets some digs in, the film ultimately treats the LARPing world with dignity, with Rudd’s character coming out in passionate defense of letting his young charge enjoy the things he likes. 

The movie also, hilariously, invented a fake Paul McCartney and Wings song called "Love Take Me Down (to the Streets),” which many viewers of the song had no idea wasn’t real. 

Yes, there are certainly lessons learned, and the cynicism always gets sanded down in the third act, as was always the case in the era of comedy that Judd Apatow dominated (although Apatow had nothing to do with Role Models.) The film would become, and remain to this day, the funniest Paul Rudd has ever been. Let him play cynical again! 

Role Models is streaming on Netflix. And exit my burger hole, boy.