2008 Woodie Awards
"School For Scoundrels"
Kirk Juhasz
Issue date: 10/4/06 Section: Entertainment
Director Todd Phillips never tries to fool you. In the opening credits it says, "A Todd Phillips Movie." He knows that "School For Scoundrels" is just a funny movie; it's not artsy enough to be called a film. So even he doesn't try to trick you by putting "film" next to his name.
Whenever you watch a Phillips movie, you know you're going to a movie to just have fun; you might not even have to pay attention the whole time.
"School For Scoundrels" is that type of movie. You won't get much out of this movie except a few laughs, but that's all anyone wants, anyway.
"School For Scoundrels" starts with Roger (Jon Heder) getting ready for work. He's a meter maid in New York City. The whole premise of the movie is that Roger is weak-willed.
The first person he gives a parking ticket to ends up mugging him. He even goes back to the office, where he is the laughingstock of the department.
It's not hard to see that this guy needs a lot of help. The problem with a few of these scenes is that they are too sorry and too sad to be funny.
This is where the confidence class comes in, and we then see a whole group of weak-willed people. Pete (Billy Bob Thornton) and Lusher (Michael Clarke Duncan) head the class to whip these pathetic maggots into shape.
The class is a lot like boot camp, but instead of teaching them how to kill, they are teaching them how to score. This confidence class has these guys doing a bunch of stuff they would never do.
That's the point. It doesn't work, but that's the point. It is also where the real fun and humor of this movie begins.
There is only one question for Heder: will he ever live down the nerdy Napoleon Dynamite character? He's been in three movies and in all three he had a weak-willed nerd as a character.
In all three movies, one of his inspiring goals is to get his first kiss and maybe get even further than that. All is achieved by the end of this movie.
But I can't help feeling sorry for Heder. How much longer before he gets a normal everyday character? He has done a great job in all of his movies, including this one, so there should be hope for him.
Whenever you watch a Phillips movie, you know you're going to a movie to just have fun; you might not even have to pay attention the whole time.
"School For Scoundrels" is that type of movie. You won't get much out of this movie except a few laughs, but that's all anyone wants, anyway.
"School For Scoundrels" starts with Roger (Jon Heder) getting ready for work. He's a meter maid in New York City. The whole premise of the movie is that Roger is weak-willed.
The first person he gives a parking ticket to ends up mugging him. He even goes back to the office, where he is the laughingstock of the department.
It's not hard to see that this guy needs a lot of help. The problem with a few of these scenes is that they are too sorry and too sad to be funny.
This is where the confidence class comes in, and we then see a whole group of weak-willed people. Pete (Billy Bob Thornton) and Lusher (Michael Clarke Duncan) head the class to whip these pathetic maggots into shape.
The class is a lot like boot camp, but instead of teaching them how to kill, they are teaching them how to score. This confidence class has these guys doing a bunch of stuff they would never do.
That's the point. It doesn't work, but that's the point. It is also where the real fun and humor of this movie begins.
There is only one question for Heder: will he ever live down the nerdy Napoleon Dynamite character? He's been in three movies and in all three he had a weak-willed nerd as a character.
In all three movies, one of his inspiring goals is to get his first kiss and maybe get even further than that. All is achieved by the end of this movie.
But I can't help feeling sorry for Heder. How much longer before he gets a normal everyday character? He has done a great job in all of his movies, including this one, so there should be hope for him.