Every cranky misanthrope needs a sunny, irresponsible best pal to get him out of the house. At least in the movie world."Role Models" teams Paul Rudd as gloom-mongering Danny with Seann William Scott, who plays the boisterous Wheeler. They work together as a promotions team for the fictional Minotaur energy drink. You can guess which one wears the suit and does all the talking, and which one dons the minotaur costume.After a company-truck stunt gone awry, which leads to the Minotaur-mobile penetrating a school-mascot statue, Danny and Wheeler are sentenced to star in a zany comedy. Well, technically they're ordered to do 150 hours of community service at a mentorship nonprofit. But, you know, same thing.Danny, who is given one more reason to hate his life when his lawyer girlfriend (Elizabeth Banks) dumps him after a marriage proposal, pairs up with cape-wearing nerd Augie. Believe it or not, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, McLovin himself, actually manages to conjure a dorkier character than he did in "Superbad."Wheeler, meanwhile, hooks up with Ronnie (Bobb'e J. Thompson), whose idea of fun is to accuse adults around him of molestation. It takes considerable talent to upstage the energetic Scott, but the trash-talking, hyperkinetic Thompson accomplishes the task with ease. Watch this 12-year-old -- he'll have his own HBO comedy special within a decade.You know the drill. The frustrating kids will help the suspended adolescents grow up, and the big guys will give the little fellows direction. The story's nothing special, but if "Role Models" does one thing right, it's casting. The four leads play their parts with such comic precision that it's tough to imagine anyone else filling their place.Scott reprises the Stifler act he's been perfecting since "American Pie," getting more amusing as he ages because a manchild is funnier and more pathetic in his 30s than in his 20s. Rudd, whose character shows contempt for everything he encounters, especially Starbucks' inability to label a cup "large," plays snide, bored and numb to exemplary effect. He's the guy who's walking out of the stadium at the end of the third quarter when the visitor is up by 14.The wild card is Jane Lynch, as the program head who's always using slang words she doesn't understand and making sexually inappropriate displays with bagel dogs. You'll remember her with a smile as the frisky electronics-store boss from "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." You'll look back on her role in "Role Models" and smile like that again.Just about everything in "Role Models" hums like a well-oiled whoopie cushion. You know exactly where it's going, but you're happy anyway because the most predictable part of the movie is how much it will make you laugh.3.5 stars out of 4Rated: R for crude and sexual content, strong language and nudity.Director: David Wain.Family call: Not for kids.Running time: 100 minutes.(E-mail Phil Villarreal at Pvillarreal(at)azstarnet.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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