Running time: 101 minutes
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Heder, Jacinda Barrett, Michael Clarke Duncan
Rating 6 out of 10
A remake of sorts of the 1960 English comedy classic School For Scoundrels or How to Win Without Actually Cheating which starred Ian Carmichael and Terry-Thomas, director-writer Todd Phillips' latest comedy is a patchy affair which has a few laugh-out-loud moments but suffers from uneven pacing. Billy Bob Thornton largely saves the day, reprising his now familiar sarcastic-aggressor shtick which he has rolled out in plenty of previous films such as Bad Santa and Bad News Bears.
Jon Heder - aka Napoleon Dynamite - plays Roger, a weedy New York parking attendant who has few friends, little self-confidence and certainly no woman in his life. When he is dismissed from his part-time role as a buddy to young kids due to his spineless character, it's the last straw. A friend tips him off about the mysterious Dr P, a life coach who guarantees to help men just like Roger, and soon he has spent his life savings on an evening course.
Enter Billy Bob and his 'No shit Sheriff' school of comedy. It's hard to think of anyone who can play this wearisome and sarcastic type any better than Thornton, and the film comes to life when he is on screen. Whether he's taunting his pathetic charges for their sheer ineptitude or just trying to steal their girlfriends (there's a major sub-plot involving Dr P, Roger and Roger's sexy neighbour, played by Jacinda Barrett), Thornton is effortlessly funny. Heder gives him something to bounce off (although it has to be said that Roger is somewhat unbelievably useless) and there's decent support from Michael Clarke Duncan and Jacinda Barrett - not to mention an unexpected cameo from a big Hollywood star - but make no mistake, this is the Billy Bob show.
Todd Phillips made something of a minor comedy classic with Old School and is no fool when is comes to handling comedy, but he fails to exercise enough control over the pacing of School for Scoundrels, and this is the film's chief weakness - for a mainstream comedy there are too many periods when the laughs just don't come.
Anyone looking for a dazzling remake of the English classic will be disappointed. Those new to the set-up may find themselves enjoying it, but only to a certain extent, as the zing and Hard Cheese factor of the original is not really there.
Paul Hurley
Jon Heder - aka Napoleon Dynamite - plays Roger, a weedy New York parking attendant who has few friends, little self-confidence and certainly no woman in his life. When he is dismissed from his part-time role as a buddy to young kids due to his spineless character, it's the last straw. A friend tips him off about the mysterious Dr P, a life coach who guarantees to help men just like Roger, and soon he has spent his life savings on an evening course.
Enter Billy Bob and his 'No shit Sheriff' school of comedy. It's hard to think of anyone who can play this wearisome and sarcastic type any better than Thornton, and the film comes to life when he is on screen. Whether he's taunting his pathetic charges for their sheer ineptitude or just trying to steal their girlfriends (there's a major sub-plot involving Dr P, Roger and Roger's sexy neighbour, played by Jacinda Barrett), Thornton is effortlessly funny. Heder gives him something to bounce off (although it has to be said that Roger is somewhat unbelievably useless) and there's decent support from Michael Clarke Duncan and Jacinda Barrett - not to mention an unexpected cameo from a big Hollywood star - but make no mistake, this is the Billy Bob show.
Todd Phillips made something of a minor comedy classic with Old School and is no fool when is comes to handling comedy, but he fails to exercise enough control over the pacing of School for Scoundrels, and this is the film's chief weakness - for a mainstream comedy there are too many periods when the laughs just don't come.
Anyone looking for a dazzling remake of the English classic will be disappointed. Those new to the set-up may find themselves enjoying it, but only to a certain extent, as the zing and Hard Cheese factor of the original is not really there.
Paul Hurley
