Role Models
Universal Pictures | Release Date: November 7, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
61
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 33 Critic Reviews
Positive:
25
Mixed:
6
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The fun of Role Models is that it's a high-concept movie executed with speed and finesse and the kind of brusquely tossed-off obscene banter that can get you laughing before you know what hit you. Read full review
80
EmpireIan Freer
A great example of the Emotionally Stunted Men Grow A Heart sub-genre. Role Models staves off the January blues and puts a marker down as 2009’s laugh-out-loud comedy to beat. Read full review
80
Total FilmKen McIntyre
For most of the film’s running time, Wain refuses to give in to mush or melodrama, preferring to prod hopelessly dysfunctional characters into uneasy duels, just to see who blinks first. Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTom Huddleston
Role Models isn’t trying to reinvent the wheel, just polish it up a little. What emerges is a memorable slice of modern slapstick, with charm to spare and just a touch of soul. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
The kind of comedy where funny people say funny things in funny situations, not the kind of comedy that whacks you with manic shocks to force an audible Pavlovian response. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's pretty formulaic stuff, and earns its R rating with profanity and unapologetically gratuitous female nudity, but somehow has a winning knuckleheaded charm. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
In its loose, ramshackle, gleefully profane first half, Role Models suggests "School Of Rock" with Tourette's, or the original "Bad News Bears" without the baseball. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Misfits and misanthropes are the heroes of Role Models, a surprisingly clever comedy. Read full review
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
Sometimes a shamelessly stoopid, proudly profane R-rated comedy is all you want out of life. Role Models more than fills the bill. It's killer funny. Read full review
75
New York PostKyle Smith
Role Models isn't a classic like "Superbad" or as hilarious as this summer's "Step Brothers," but it's excellent fun for males in the mental age bracket of 14 to 22, which is most males. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Hartlaub
A funny and twisted movie from beginning to end, closing with an emotional payoff. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
The casting is the key to the success of this absolutely hilarious crowd-pleaser. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Any movie that shows its heroes firing up a joint between stints as high-school anti-drug crusaders is true to its black little heart. Read full review
75
Charlotte ObserverLawrence Toppman
Though its grosses may not soar into the realm occupied by "Superbad" and "American Pie," it has more sympathy for its characters. Read full review
75
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
The surprisingly funny Role Models does three things extremely well. It gives killer roles to comic actors frequently stuck in ensembles. It directs hilariously harsh words at children and lets the children direct even harsher words back at the adults. And it's oddly determined to give a fair shake to fans of both medieval role-playing and the band Kiss. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineCammila Albertson
It does consistently remain both totally nuts and totally hilarious. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
Rudd and Scott hail from different universes of movie comedy, but manage together here just fine, particularly since each takes a different path. Read full review
70
VarietyDennis Harvey
Laden with more than enough profane humor to warrant its R rating, this is nonetheless a formulaic crowd-pleaser. Read full review
70
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
Wain, Marino, and Rudd pull it off because theirs is a funnier, brainier, bawdier brand of feel-good. Read full review
70
SlateDana Stevens
Role Models may not set its sights very high, but it comes by its emotional payoff honestly. And why isn't Paul Rudd in greater demand as a romantic comedy lead? Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
The general tone is one of crusty, unapologetic misanthropy, driven home by the formidable Rudd (who also kicked in on the script). Read full review
70
Washington PostNeely Tucker
You can probably figure out how this is all going to end, but it still has more laughs than you might think. Nobody gets more than the wonderful Jane Lynch as the ex-drug addict and director of the mentoring program. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJosh Rosenblatt
Misanthropy in the movies has a new face. And, surprising to say, it's a handsome one. A matinee-idol face, in fact. Some might even go so far as to call it "dreamy." It's the face of Paul Rudd. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
Role Models wouldn't be anything without Mintz-Plasse, whose character occasions what may be the cinema's first really funny Marvin Hamlisch joke, and whose camera presence is at once unfailingly modest and distinctive. Read full review
63
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
Role Models has a tart surface and a heart of goo. The movie grows more obvious as it goes along. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It's disposable entertainment at its most extreme. Read full review
50
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Isn't as uproarious as it pretends to be. The foul language, the constant repetition of words like the aforementioned "boobies" -- look, they've even got me doing it -- doesn't feel daring or cathartic, only canned. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
By the time the film reaches its big mushy climax, in which the slackers discover their inner caring during a dopey medieval role-playing battle, the movie starts to feel something like a pleasure again. Read full review
42
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
In this brand of comedy, nothing succeeds like excess, and this film is seriously deficient. Read full review
40
The New York TimesStephen Holden
With the ferocity of a drill instructor and the boundless confidence of a self-help guru who combines psychobabble clichés with embarrassingly explicit confessions, Ms. Lynch's Gayle redeems the movie from utter banality. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Furiously raunchy, occasionally bright and eventually benumbing comedy. Read full review
20
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
Where on the evolutionary scale of wacky-dudes-learn-to-grow-up movies does Role Models fall? Certainly less evolved than "Meatballs," but head and hairy knuckles above "Daddy Day Care" or "The Benchwarmers." Read full review
20
Film ThreatMatthew Sorrento
If "Models'" comedy is a bore, the characters' redemption is sheer agony – not to mention the shameless pop-cultural referencing that repeats like a bad taco. Read full review
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