Reviewed by Johnny McNair

Universal Studios Home Entertainment – 112 mins – 2008 – Rated R/Unrated – 1080p Widescreen 1.85: 1 – DTS-HD Lossless Master 5.1 Audio

Thanks to the success of such films as The Forty Year Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and SuperBad, the R-rated comedy has made a comeback. But just because a comedy has rapid-fire four letter words and shows some boobs, doesn’t exactly make it funnier. The latest comedy hoping to cash in on the Judd Apatow era is Role Models, available on Blu-ray from Universal Home Entertainment.

THE MOVIE

Role Models stars Paul Rudd as Danny and Seann William Scott as Wheeler, two friends in their 30’s who are stuck in a dead-end job working as salesmen for an energy drink company. When they get into a mishap that results in them wrecking the company’s truck, they are given the choice of either going to jail or doing 150 hours of community service by becoming mentors to the kids of a program called Sturdy Wings.

Danny becomes the mentor to a social misfit named Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), who is obsessed with playing in a live action World of Warcraft community, where people dress up in plastic armor and table clothes for capes. Wheeler gets paired up with a foul-mouthed kid named Ronnie (Bobb’e J. Thompson), who is misguided and mischievous, basically a younger version than him. Through the mentoring program, Danny and Wheeler learn more about themselves through the children, thus transforming themselves into more responsible citizens.

Role Models is not a bad film, it’s just not clear exactly what it’s attempting to offer. Is it trying to be the Meatballs of this generation, or is it attempting to be a Judd Apatow film without the edge? There are funny moments, particularly by Jane Lynch as the former coke addicted founder of the mentoring program, who literally steals every scene she’s in. Fans SuperBad should also enjoy seeing McLovin back in action and all decked out as a member of KISS.

Even though both the R-rated theatrical release and the Unrated versions are available on the disc, believe it or not would have played better if it just went for the PG-13 rating and went for just being a teen comedy. If you like Paul Rudd or Seann William Scott, the film is worth a look, but just don’t expect it to be on the level of the Judd Apatow movies it’s trying to emulate.

VIDEO

Role Models comes to Blu-ray in full 1080p with a 1.85:1 aspect ratio, and it looks good with bright colors, and excellent skin tones. You can’t expect much from a film like this in terms of photography, because it’s a straight forward as can be in terms of style, looking like any show you’ll see that is presented in HD on cable. There’s nothing to show off, but nothing to complain about either.

AUDIO

Offering a Dolby DTS 5.1 audio, Role Models is just cut and paste mix, but the dialogue is crisp. Background noises are balanced well, but the finale battle scene is the main area where the sound design gets a workout. Like the picture, the sound mix does it’s job without overdoing it.

EXTRAS

Universal always attempts to toss in a lot of goodies with their Blu-ray releases and Role Models follows molding. Both the theatrical release and the three-minute longer unrated versions are offered, so I you want to hear the F-bomb dropped some more the option is there.

Director and co-writer David Wain offers some fun behind the scenes tales via an auidio commentary track.

There is nearly an hour of deleted and alternate scenes, and where usually these outtakes are not worth watching, there are actually some very funny scenes here that were pulled out, so this is worth watching.

On the set of Role Models is an eight-minute promotional clip that features interviews with the cast and filmmakers.

Game On: Creating a Role Playing World, looks at the interactive role-playing world of the group created in the movie called L.A.I.R.E.

In Character & Off Script looks at how the supporting characters use improvisation to add a better edge than what was offered in the script.

Universal’s U-Control allows you to see Picture-In-Picture clips of on the set antics for particular scenes.

Via BD-Live you can create shield crest with Ye Olde Crest Maker, adding different logos and colors and uploading them to share with friends. And view Inside Sturdy Wings to see a mini-bio on the creator of the mentoring program, Gail Sweeny.

BOTTOM LINE

Role Models has its heart in the right place and is worth a look, because you’ll definitely get some laughs out of it. The Blu-ray delivers good image and sound and solid batch of bonus features. Give it a rent first, but if you saw the film already during it’s theatrical release and loved it, then it’s a definate buy, because we all need Role Models.

SCORES: (Out of 5):

The Movie: 3.0

Video: 4.0

Sound: 4.0

Extras: 3.0

Bottom Line: 3.0