While I had never seen any of David Wain's previous films, the star power was enough to catch my attention for this comedy. I'm quickly finding myself as a major fan of Paul Rudd and Seann William Scott has never let me down. Here we have a flick that brings the two together in a comedy that, while it isn't the best I've seen, still manages to keep me laughing. The story follows Danny (Rudd) and Wheeler (Scott) as two representatives for an energy drink company who are placed into community service to avoid jail time. As punishment, the two are forced into a Big Brother style program and are each assigned a kid for a month.
I found that I wasn't overly impressed with this movie when I first watched it but it's grown on me each time since. The jokes are hit-or-miss but most of them are good for a laugh. Paul Rudd continues to flaunt his awesome line delivery and improv skills, and Scott does an ample job keeping up. Of course, some of the film's funniest moments are courtesy of the younger stars, Bobb'e J. Thompson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Thompson is like a mini-Chris Rock, vulgar with great comedic timing. Mintz-Plasse plays up the same nerd angle he did in Greg Mottola's SUPERBAD though now with an obsession for LAIRE (a live-action sword/dungeons role-playing game).
The movie is funny but it's doesn't quite live up to the comedic gems we've been receiving from Judd Apatow and his crew in recent years. Some of the jokes fall flat, others muster a chuckle, but some are spot on (especially Jane Lynch, who boosts the laughs as the ex-cokehead running the program) and I still get a kick out of the film's LAIRE finale. The performances were great and a stronger script could've amped this film up a couple levels; if I'm not mistaken, the production had a few hiccups and rewrites. All-in-all, the humor outweighs the dull enough to keep this movie entertaining and worth a viewing.
I found that I wasn't overly impressed with this movie when I first watched it but it's grown on me each time since. The jokes are hit-or-miss but most of them are good for a laugh. Paul Rudd continues to flaunt his awesome line delivery and improv skills, and Scott does an ample job keeping up. Of course, some of the film's funniest moments are courtesy of the younger stars, Bobb'e J. Thompson and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. Thompson is like a mini-Chris Rock, vulgar with great comedic timing. Mintz-Plasse plays up the same nerd angle he did in Greg Mottola's SUPERBAD though now with an obsession for LAIRE (a live-action sword/dungeons role-playing game).
The movie is funny but it's doesn't quite live up to the comedic gems we've been receiving from Judd Apatow and his crew in recent years. Some of the jokes fall flat, others muster a chuckle, but some are spot on (especially Jane Lynch, who boosts the laughs as the ex-cokehead running the program) and I still get a kick out of the film's LAIRE finale. The performances were great and a stronger script could've amped this film up a couple levels; if I'm not mistaken, the production had a few hiccups and rewrites. All-in-all, the humor outweighs the dull enough to keep this movie entertaining and worth a viewing.