ROLE MODELS
HEADLINE: ** More Child Abuse **
TITLE: ROLE MODELS
Quality: * * * Acceptability: -4
SUBTITLES: None
WARNING CODES:
Language: LLL
Violence: V
Sex: SS
Nudity: NN
RATING: R
RELEASE: November 7, 2008
TIME: 98 minutes
STARRING: Paul Rudd, Seann [sic] William Scott, Elizabeth Banks, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Jane Lynch, and Joe Lo Truglio
DIRECTOR: David Wain
PRODUCERS: Mary Parent, Scott Stuber and Luke Greenfield
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Dan Kolstud, Andrew Z. Davis, Matt Seigel, William Sherak, and Jason Shuman
WRITERS: David Wain, Ken Marino and Timothy Dowling
BASED ON THE NOVEL/PLAY BY: N/A
DISTRIBUTOR: Universal Pictures/General Electric
CONTENT: (PaPa, Ro, B, Ho, O, LLL, V, SS, NN, AA, DD, MM) Strong mixed pagan worldview with pagan, Romantic and moral elements that sexualizes a young boy, who also uses the "f" word, plus some jokes about homosexuality and light references to occult sorcery in a role playing fantasy game that's played for laughs; at least 101 obscenities (including many "f" words plus little boy says some "f" words and other obscenities), seven strong profanities and 10 light profanities, plus one or two obscene gestures; light, mostly comical violence includes fake swordfights with plastic and foam swords, truck rams into statue, some fighting; strong sexual content, mostly in dialogue and some around and said by little boy, plus implied fornication, little boy accidentally sees upper female nudity of sleeping woman, man crudely discusses with fifth grader the meaning of sexual innuendoes in lyrics from a song by the band Kiss, boy makes homosexual insults of one or two adults, and boy falsely accuses new adult male mentor of pulling down his pants but boy is a known trouble maker and mentor leader acts like boy has made such a charge before of new mentors; upper female nudity in two scenes, rear male nudity in one scene, and brief upper male nudity; alcohol use and drunkenness; some drug references and jokes, including recovering ex-convict running a mentoring program makes exaggerated references to how bad her drug addiction was; and, lying, false accusation not believed, insults, man dresses down teenager's mother and step-father, adult male mentor brings boy to party and leaves him for a minute with a friend but has a dalliance with a woman at party so boy walks home alone.
GENRE: Comedy
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older teenagers and adults
Please address your comments to:
Jeffrey R. Immelt, Chairman/CEO, General Electric
Jeff Zucker, President/CEO, NBC Universal
Ron Meyer, President/COO, Universal Studios
Marc Shmuger, Chairman
David Linde, Co-Chairman
Universal Pictures
100 Universal City Plaza
Universal City, CA 91608-1085
Phone: (818) 777-1000
Web Page: www.universalstudios.com
SUMMARY: In the comedy ROLE MODELS, a judge orders two pitchmen for an energy drink to take part in a Big Brother mentoring program, or face jail time. The movie's clean parts, which are often hilarious, are overwhelmed by abundant foul language, crude sexual content, brief nudity, some drug references, and an abhorrent mixture of sexual crudities with a young character who's only a fifth grader.
IN BRIEF:
In the comedy ROLE MODELS, a judge orders two pitchmen for an energy drink, Danny and Wheeler, to take part in a Big Brother mentoring program, or face jail time. Big mistake. Wheeler is assigned to a foul-mouthed fifth grader. Danny is assigned to a nerdy teenager obsessed with a fantasy game with pretend swords in local parks. At first, the four males don't get along, but eventually they bond, though not always in good ways. Things come to a head when the teenager gets kicked out of the role playing group after the group's snooty leader lies about the teenager and Danny complains. Danny has to decide how important it is for him to make amends and get back in the teenager's good graces.
The clean parts of ROLE MODELS are extremely funny, but the rest of the movie contains abundant foul language, crude sexual content, brief nudity, and some drug references. What makes the movie completely unacceptable, however, is its mixture of crude sexual references with the character of the fifth grader, who's obsessed with women's breasts as well as sometimes spouting obscenities. This content really crosses a line.
NOTE from Dr. Ted Baehr, publisher of Movieguide Magazine. For more information from a Christian perspective, order the latest Movieguide Magazine by calling 1-800-899-6684(MOVI) or visit our website at www.movieguide.org. Movieguide is dedicated to redeeming the values of Hollywood by informing parents about today's movies and entertainment and by showing media executives and artists that family-friendly and even Christian-friendly movies do best at the box office year in and year out. Movieguide now offers an online subscription to its magazine version, atwww.movieguide.org. The magazine, which comes out 25 times a year, contains many informative articles and reviews that help parents train their children to be media-wise consumers.
