Christopher Mintz-Plasse

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Role Models’ With Paul Rudd Good Movie, Great Blu-Ray

BrianTT — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 09:36:09 -0700

Blu-Ray Rating: 4.0/5.0

CHICAGO – David Wain’s “Role Models” is far from a perfect comedy, but the Universal Blu-Ray release of it is one of the best of the year so far. The release of “Role Models” includes a great video transfer, entertaining series of special features, and a comedy that holds up pretty well on repeat viewing. What more do you want?

“Role Models” features a great set-up with a fantastic cast, but the film itself doesn’t quite have the follow-through that I wish director David Wain had delivered. Despite the near-miss of the entire project, the first half-hour is laugh-out-loud funny and will be more than enough to justify a rental.

Role Models will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Universal

Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott are perfectly cast, the former’s sarcastic delivery proving to be an amazing balance for the latter’s physical, usually sleazy, style. Scott has a goofy presence that works perfectly with Rudd’s more cynical, intellectual brand of humor. A lot of the film’s success can be attributed to these two underrated actor’s comic timing and chemistry.

Role Models will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Universal

Rudd plays Danny Donahue, a negative, pessimistic s.o.b. who has been driven crazy by modern slang and catch phrases like saying “A-sap” or the fact that it’s a “venti” at Starbucks when it really should be a “large”. He work’s with Scott’s Wheeler selling the energy drink “Minotaur” to high school students. When Danny realizes he’s been hocking liquid chemicals for too long for a grown man, he kind of snaps.

Danny awkwardly and unsuccessfully asks his girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks) to marry him and gets into a scrape with a tow truck driver and a security guard that earns him 150 hours of community service. They spend those hours in a big brother program led by Gayle Sweeney (the hilarious Jane Lynch), where Danny is paired with the awkward, live-action role-playing fan Augie Farks (“Superbad“‘s Christopher Mintz-Plasse) and Wheeler spends his time with the raunchiest pre-teen on the planet, Ronnie Shields (Bobb’e J. Thompson).

There’s a lot to like about “Role Models,” including a generally great theme about letting your freak flag fly and just being who you want to be. The entire ensemble, especially Rudd and Lynch, is fantastic. With a great first act and wonderful cast, the only problem with “Role Models” is that the set-up is essentially the entire movie. Once you realize that Augie is into live-action role-playing and that Ronnie isn’t as tough as his vocab, there’s nowhere else to go.

I kept waiting for another subplot or twist that never came. From the director of the hilariously off-kilter “Wet Hot American Summer,” I expected more than “funny but predictable”. “Role Models” is clever enough to recommend but it almost seems too easy for people as talented as Rudd and Wain. I expected a bit more. Like a lot of role models, it lets you down a bit after the first impression.

Role Models will be released on Blu-Ray on March 10th, 2009.
Photo credit: Universal

Great Blu-Rays can make you think more fondly of the movie itself and Universal accomplishes that goal with a wonderful release for “Role Models”. The nearly fifty minutes of deleted scenes and alternate takes are surprisingly hilarious. It’s not hard to see why they were cut for the flow of the film, but some are laugh-out-loud funny, a rarity for deleted scenes. And Rashida Jones (appearing with Rudd in the upcoming “I Love You, Man”) even appears in a deleted cameo.

The deleted scenes are just the beginning of why the “Role Models” Blu-Ray delivers. The video transfer, something you wouldn’t usually notice on a comedy, is perfect. There’s depth and vibrancy to the picture that’s usually ignored in video transfers for comedy. In comparison, the audio is a little flat but never distractingly so.

A great gag reel, three more minutes of jokes in the “unrated version,” behind-the-scenes featurettes, a commentary by Wain, and Universal’s awesome U-Control, the feature that allows b-t-s access picture-in-picture as the movie plays, work together to make a collection of special features that perfectly enhance the film itself without feeling like overkill. Universal continues to be the role model when it comes to Blu-Ray special features.

‘Role Models’ is released by Universal Home Video and stars Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott, Jane Lynch, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb’e J. Thompson, and Elizabeth Banks. It was written by Paul Rudd & David Wain & Ken Marino and Timothy Dowling and directed by Wain. It was released on March 10th, 2009. It is rated R and unrated.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

‘R’-Rated, Three-Minute ‘Superbad’ Clip Leaks Onto YouTube

HollywoodChicago.com — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 17:15:55 -0600

A high-quality, “R”-rated “Superbad” clip has leaked online. This is three minutes from the film and is not the television trailer.

The film, which stars Jonah Hill, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Seth Rogen and Bill Hader, opens in theaters on Aug. 17.

My July 26 post about the Chicago Q&A with Hill, Cera and Mintz-Plasse can be found here.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

‘Superbad’ Trio Riles Up Chicago at Screening, Open Q&A

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:06:35 -0600

I had a blast screening “Superbad” tonight. The theater was packed and people genuinely seemed antsy to laugh after a long day at work. That we all did.

Michael Cera (left) and Jonah Hill in “Superbad”.
Jonah Hill, Michael Cera and first-timer Christopher Mintz-Plasse – or the “Superbad” trio – stole the show. The duo Bill Hader and Seth Rogen were critical faces fused in the mix, too.

The film was made by the same guys who brought you “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up”.

While I’ll save the full review until the film opens on Aug. 17, I will share with you my impressions from the open Q&A following the screening. The session had the feeling of nearly complete liberty.

The stars were free to speak, curse, joke and laugh like they’d do normally. Fans snagged “McLovin” bumper stickers that said: “Gangstas, what’s up?”

The charmingly geeky Michael Cera – man, geeky really is the new cool these days – walked in just as the credits were rolling. He innocently pointed out: “That’s us from the movie.” The simple comment started the crowd off with their respect.

Jonah Hill said a lot of the material was improvised. They reflected on particularly having fun with the “genital confession” bit. While I won’t spoil it, suffice it to say the actors e-mailed around ideas about different drawings.

The unfortunate result of an open Q&A can be ridiculously ignorant questions asked by fans who most certainly have not done their research. There were several here. Interestingly, though, the question was posed whether actors really got sloshed on set.

Hill said while looking up at his escorts: “No. That’s the safe answer, right?” In response to why none of the women were on tour with them, he joked: “Because too many babies would get made.”

Christopher Mintz-Plasse (left) in “Superbad”.
The sensitive question came up about a sequel. While actors cannot announce news in this kind of setting, Cera was rather revealing. He said:

If they’d let us make a sequel, we’d walk out of the mall at the end of the film and get shot in the head by the cops (Hader and Rogen). The next film would be about their lives spinning out of control.

Please do not misinterpret this information. This is not a confirmation of a sequel in the works. This is merely an idea they have pondered. Ultimately, they’ve left the film open to a sequel and expressed interest in it if the first film performs.

While taking in the scene and the multi-level theater, I noticed that Hill seemed to squint frequently. He either needed contacts or stronger ones. After the Q&A ended, the trio casually walked about the AMC River East theater.

I bumped into Hill in the bathroom like he was any other guy and Cera had his small video recorder out in the front of the theater to capture fireworks at Navy Pier. Guards were around them, but in general, they were very free, warmly received and certainly entertaining.