Take Five
By George Rose
August 11, 2009
Instead of doing what I probably should do, which is call and apologize or listen to the rest of the recording to be fully informed, I cower and do nothing. Well, I don't do nothing, but I sure don't do any of the things I could do. I do what I always do when I realize I screwed up and am too ashamed to clean up the mess. I stay in and watch a movie, hoping it will cure me and teach me a new lesson. It sure won't fix the situation, which I'll have to face eventually, but movies are my only real addiction and I need a quick fix NOW. Would an alcoholic pass up on a night of drinking so he could stay in, reflect and spend time with his family watching a movie? I'm not sure, but I hope somewhere in the world Burroughs finds his way to Box Office Prophets, reads this article and is proud to know he is a huge part of the lives of his fans. This is for Augusten Burroughs, the man who inspired me to become a writer and quite possibly the reason behind last night's drunk dial. If only HE had sent me a sign.
Role Models (2008) – watched/written July 30, 2009
What a coincidence, right? I should be the one sent to do 150 hours of community service for disrupting the peace, not Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Seann William Scott). Well, maybe not. I only did a drunk dial. While working as spokesmen for a new energy drink at high schools in the area, they crash their company truck onto school property. And damage the tow truck trying to collect their car. And inform the students of the school that drugs are cool and that their product is poison. This all happens because Danny's girlfriend – Beth (Elizabeth Banks), a lawyer – dumps him for being an angry pessimist, as a result of living an unfulfilled life. I guess my situation isn't so bad after all. See, movies make everything better!
Not only does the movie make me feel better, it has me laughing more frequently than most of the "comedies" released these days. Paul Rudd delivers deadpan humor with ease and Sean Scott gets more hilarious the older he gets, even if he is playing the same sex-obsessed character here as he did in the American Pie trilogy. These two are perfect as the sarcastic "good suit" salesman (Danny) and the thoughtless "bad pervert" mascot (Wheeler). Tie them in with the always enjoyable Elizabeth Banks, and you have a cast that makes me overlook such screenwriting forced plot points as having Beth be the boys' lawyer. Only in Hollywood would the lawyer break up with the buffoon just before he gets into legal trouble, preventing her from moving away and giving him the opportunity to win her back.
Winning her back shouldn't be too hard because their sentence is to be "big brother" to a couple of young kids at an organization called Sturdy Wings. Women love kids and it figures Danny's cold heart would eventually become melted by them. It's only a matter of time before he is really, truly ready to be the devoted partner that Beth needs. If it weren't for the laugh-out-loud interactions between Danny and Wheeler, the story might be too cliché to stomach. I'm not a fan of kids, so the prospect of their involvement had me nervous. Have faith, George, this is an R-rated movie, I remind myself. They won't be your average kids.
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