ROLE MODELS (2009, 99 minutes, Paul Rudd, Seann William Scott)

Directed by David Wain

All those “bro” movies are from the same mold, aren’t they?  They still make them too, variations on a theme.  The same general plotline always applies:  there’s a pair of funny but crude friends, who have a love/hate thing going on.  There’s a girlfriend (or fiance), usually a professional of some kind, to win or win back.  There are usually dick and fart jokes.

Role Models is all this, so I won’t go and tell you that it’s different from Knocked Up, Superbad, or Mr. Woodcock in any significant way.

Except one way.

.

Role Models is a love letter to the Hottest Band in the Land.  One of the writers clearly loves them, and knew how to make that funny.

In one of the earliest scenes, Scott throws Love Gun into the car tape deck.  “Kiss?  Nobody likes Kiss.  Paul Stanley is sick of Kiss,” says Rudd.  Yet, the song “Love Gun” is a recurring motif in Role Models.

Here’s the plot in a nutshell:  Two guys work for an energy drink company called Minotaur (think Red Bull, but in gross green).  Their job entails doing presentations to kids in highschool to stay off drugs, and drink Minotaur instead.  (“We’re selling nuclear horse piss to kids” – Rudd.)  One day it all goes wrong for Rudd and his girlfriend Beth (get it?  See where this is going?), played by Elizabeth Banks.  Rudd goes a little nuts at a presentation, and his giant minotaur truck ends up mounting a horse statue in the school yard.

Luckily, Beth is a lawyer and cuts Rudd and Scott a deal with the judge (without the two even having to appear before him, how convenient for a 99 minute movie).  They have to volunteer with “Sturdy Wings”; sort of like a big brothers program.  They each have to mentor a child for a set number of hours.  The program, run by a hilarious Jane Lynch, is only mildly creepy.

As the two protagonists get to know their assigned “littles”, Scott teaches his new friend about Kiss.  “These guys look like clowns,” says lil’ Ronnie.  Scott explains that they’re not, they’re actually really rich Jewish guys, and all their songs are about fucking!  This interests his young friend, who then starts dancing to “Love Gun”.

“You pull the trigger of my…Love Guuuuuuuuuun!” goes the familiar song.

“See Ronnie?  His dick is the gun!” explains Scott helpfully.

Meanwhile, Paul Rudd’s little buddy Augie is played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse (known to you as McLovin).  Augie loves fantasy role playing (LARPing), and takes Rudd to a battle.  Rudd is not impressed (“I just spent the afternoon with Gleep-Glopp and the Floop-dee-doos”), but decides to help Augie when he needs battle companions.  There’s a memorable camping trip that ends with a naked Seann William Scott, but it’s balanced out by Wings jokes (including a fake Wings song called “Love Take Me Down to the Streets”).

Without spoiling the epic ending (complete with a sword battle, a siege, and  Ken Jeong), except to say that before credits role, you will hear at least two more Kiss songs, and see the four main characters dressed in Kiss makeup and battle armor.  No explanation is given for how the quartet threw the armor together in a mere afternoon, but details do not matter in a film like this.  Prepare for a climax that finishes the movie on a hilarious note.

Other great talents in this movie included Joe Lo Truglio and Ken Marino, so check it out if that sounds like your kinda thing.  And especially if you’re a Kiss fan.

4/5 stars

2/5 stars for non-Kiss fans