School for Scoundrels: I Should Have Played Hooky
In Todd Phillips’ School for Scoundrels (2006), Roger (Jon Heder) is your typical loser with no friends and no luck. All this changes when he is given a phone number and told that someone out there can help him. This someone is Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton), one who teaches a top-secret class that instructs all those losers out there on how to become men. Roger quickly rises to the head of the class, only to discover that Dr. P has a competitive side. Roger and Dr. P are soon fighting over the same woman—a woman Roger has had a crush on for some time. Let the war begin!
School for Scoundrels definitely has some funny moments. The audience is, of course, rooting throughout for Roger and his quest to “get the girl” as he battles it out with Dr. P. However, while the basic story has potential, the film loses its charm along the way. Jon Heder brings the same quirky humor to Roger as he did for Napoleon in Jared Hess’ Napoleon Dynamite (2004). And, he is once again quite amusing to watch. Billy Bob Thornton plays a by-now familiar role as the arrogant, competitive, and self-assured Dr. P. (He appears to have this character-type mastered—Dr. P reminded me of the President which Thornton plays in Richard Curtis’ Love Actually (2003).
There is also the peculiar right-hand-man, Lesher, played by Michael Clarke Duncan. Now, I’m not so sure why they thought the story line around Lesher would be funny, but I didn’t bite. Overall the whole Lesher sidebar storyline felt forced and fell short, and this is where the movie lost most of its potential. Without going into any detail, I’ll just say that this sidebar should have been left out of the movie.
School for Scoundrels is amusing at times, but not worth a trip to the theater. Maybe it’s worth catching on TV.
Posted by Kelly Walvoord at October 17, 2006 10:55 AM
Comments
As discussed above, the village offers a heightened sense of community which lifts viewers and allows them to be engrossed into this place. However, this move also illustrates that the Utopian society portrayed is a fraud as it was created by the elders in the village. My hopes of having such trust in my own life were crushed once I discovered this.
Posted by: April Adeeyo at November 28, 2006 9:31 AM