{grate 2.5}
Starring Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Paul Rudd & Sean William Scott
Directed by David Wain
Rated R
Misfits Danny (Paul Rudd) and Wheeler (Sean William Scott) have quite possibly the easiest job in the world: they visit schools and tell kids to “Just say ‘No’ to drugs,” forcing them to down copious amounts of their nuclear horse-piss Minotaur Energy Drink, instead.
“Wet Hot American Summer” director David Wain’s “Role Models” trims down on cult humor to crowd-please the mainstream, but remains savvy enough to make formulaic fart humor wholly enjoyable. His sex-obsessed duo nosedive into fantastically crude slapstick after Danny quenches a couple piss-packs too many, crashing their novelty company car in a faux-DUI bender. The young men are dealt an ultimatum: 30 days in the state pen or 150 hours of community service at Sturdy Wings, a local altruistic mentoring program for kids who certainly need it.
Turns out a couple of sex-crazed dropouts don’t make the best mentors. Danny is paired with Augie (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), better known as McLovin’ from “Superbad,” who is once again typecast as every high school’s awkward roller-backpack kid. Living as a life-size avatar of his Dungeons and Dragons’ warrior character the mythic land of Zanthia, Augie’s extracurricular activities include battling himself and making out with imaginary elves. Wheeler, the typical “Animal House” goof, gets paired with the adorable Ronnie (Bobb’e J. Thompson), a young, troublesome class clown who’s determined to get rid of his previous slew of do-gooder big brothers.
Fanning the eccentricity, Sturdy Wings is run by ex-blow aficionado Gayle Sweeny (Jane Lynch), whose experience in delivering awkward sexual daggers of awkward sexual comments, as demonstrated in 2005’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” comes in handy. She promptly asserts that she’s not here to service the community — she’s here to “service these young boys.”
“Models” draws a lot of its laughs with a typical arsenal of post-“American Pie” absurdity, peppered with the occasional Judd-Apatow aside. Witty joustings, tasteless quips and ever the sly sexual innuendo follow a well-perforated pattern, generally one-upping lowbrow college humor like “Scary Movie 4” by triggering the never-statisfied pleasure centers of horny teens everywhere.
Though its actors inevitably fulfill their self-stereotypes — Paul Rudd is the jerk, Sean William Scott the goof-off and Christopher Mintz-Plasse the uber-dweeb — “Models” still throws around enough pop-culture references and droll wisecracks to have us rooting for its antiheros until the sidesplitting finish.