Do you lack the confidence it takes to get the girl of your dreams? For Roger, played by Jon Heder, this was only the beginning of his problems.
Set in New York City, “School for Scoundrels” tells the story of Roger, a meter maid, riddled with low self-esteem and the inability to assert himself at work or with women.
When Roger sets his eyes on his neighbor, Amanda (Jacinda Barrett), he enrolls in a top-secret class focused on refueling confidence and turning boys into men. The class is taught by Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton) as a smooth operating, double timer and his rough-around-the-edges assistant Lesher (Michael Clark Duncan).
Roger is joined by classmates Walsh (Matt Walsh) who lives at home with his mother, Eli (Todd Louiso), whose shyness stifles him with women, and Diego (Horatio Sanz) whose wife beats him up. After putting their trust into Dr. P whose unorthodox ways preach that the way to get to a woman’s heart is to tell “lies, lies and more lies,” Roger becomes the ace of the class and even begins to date his crush Amanda. As soon as Dr. P begins to feel a rise in competition he attempts to bulldoze Rogers’ personal and private life, destroy his image and steal his girlfriend. With his new found confidence and the help of his new friends, Roger is determined to get his girl back.
“School for Scoundrels” is an adaptation of the 1960 British film of the same title reuniting the co-writers Todd Philips and Scot Armstrong of “Road Trip,” “Starsky & Hutch” and “Old School.” This is the perfect film to release school tension.
The dynamics between soft spoken Jon Heder and Billy Bob Thornton’s trigger finger personality gives this film the perfect amount of dry humor scrambled with comedic cruelty making it a non-stop laugh to watch. Just add Duncan’s amusingly merciless character, Ben Stiller as a scraggily cat-loving loner whose out for revenge and Sarah Silverman as Becky, the apathetic dry-humored roommate of Amanda, and you have yourself a comedy fitting for many tastes of humor.
“I really sparked to the idea of a group of guys, who all for different reasons need guidance. And Billy Bob is the man they turn to,” said writer/director Todd Philips.
Be sure to head out to theaters tomorrow for “School for Scoundrels,” a film that will not only take your mind off school but will show you what it is to be cool.
