'Models' worth looking up to

Despite its ridiculous premise (why would you put criminals in charge of kids?), “Role Models” delivers some smart, extremely funny moments while not devolving too much into low-brow comedy.

Paul Rudd’s sarcastic, dead-pan delivery is a nice foil to Seann William Scott’s brand of goofy humor, and I found myself laughing out loud even when some of my fellow theatergoers weren’t.

After being dumped by his longtime girlfriend Beth (Elizabeth Banks), Minotaur energy drink representative and motivational speaker Danny Donahue (Rudd) drops his calm facade and drives the Minotaur-mobile into a school where he’s speaking. In the passenger seat is Wheeler (Scott), who works as the Minotaur mascot.

Instead of doing jail time, the two are sentenced to do 150 hours of community service in a Big Brothers-like program.

Danny’s relationship with his “little brother” Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) is the film’s main draw. Augie is a geek teased by his parents because he enjoys LAIRE, a type of live-action role-playing game that involves tunics, tights and the most medieval imagery since the “Lord of the Rings” films.

Though Wheeler and his charge Ronnie have their breakthrough moments, the message of this movie focuses on Danny and Augie. Both of them try to figure out what it means to grow up: Danny thinks it means quitting his job and proposing to his girlfriend; Augie thinks it means giving up LAIRE.

Although the message is great and uplifting, some of the characters aren’t. Wheeler is crass and has some womanizing tendencies that aren’t too appealing, but a little of that is expected in a movie about male bonding.

Seeing Wheeler be the (somewhat) intelligent adult in response to Ronnie’s bad behavior was, however, something new for Scott.

Rudd has built a career out of being a Mr. Nice Guy like Danny Donahue. Seriously – I’d take a guy back in a heartbeat if he tried to express his undying love by reciting cheesy movie taglines. But it would be nice to see Rudd bring some more nuanced roles to the big screen.

Both Danny and Augie learn that growing up means being true to yourself, while Ronnie learns what it’s like to be a kid and Wheeler learns what it’s like to take care of a kid – a great and enjoyable ending for any kid-at-heart viewers out there.