Role Models (David Wain, 2008)

I've been somewhat sceptical of late with regards to the current output of American comedies. With the height Frat Pack era having passed a few year back (again, it peaked with Anchorman and Dodgeball), there haven't been very many funny films that have been very funny, something of a handicap for a comedy. But every now and then one crops up that tickles the bone de la funny. Recently it was The Hangover (a film I liked very much) and the year before that it was Role Models, a film that, on paper, didn't seem all to appealing. Good thing I went with the consensus of my social circle: the film is actually very good.

I have concluded that anything with Paul Rudd is worthy of a view. Since his stint on Friends the man has popped up on numerous occasions and often becomes one of the funniest things in a film. Taking centre stage here with a less-irritating-than-normal Sean William Scott, the two are comic gold. The bro-mance, for the most part, works. But the best work is given to Ken Jeong, who always, without fail, makes me bust a gut in whatever he's in, his cameo in The Hangover being particularly chuckle worthy. The black kid shouting Mother Fucker and Cracka' is also very funny.

Not the best comedy in the world but it delivers the right combinations of laughs and genuine emotion to make it better than a million Meet The Spartans.

4/5