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School for Scoundrels . . . or as it's known in Arizona, ASU.
As seems to be the trend lately, Hollywood brings us yet another remake. The original movie was a British film from 1960 that was based on a book. Well, this one is a modernized version of that movie. This one is about a highly socially-challenged geeky-loser name Roger (John Heder) that just can do no right. He can’t make friends, he can’t keep a job and he can’t seem to get a girl. An ex-loser and now ex-boss finally takes pity on him and turns him onto a very top secret, underground, covert school where losers can be made into functioning normal guys. The school is run by Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton). Dr. P teaches the students some pretty hard lessons to bring them around. Threatened by Roger’s quick transformation, Dr. P decides to go after the girl that Roger likes (Jacinda Berrett). Now it becomes a hilarious game of who can out-wit, out-do and out-smart the other guy. What Dr. P doesn’t realize is that Roger will go to any length to be the normal guy he knows he can be and to win the heart of the girl he loves.
School for Scoundrels is a VERY funny movie! While there's definitely some of that mediocre comedy in there - the kind of stuff you can either see coming, or you've seen before - there's also a fair amount of just absolutely brilliant comedy. It's exactly what you expect from a big budget movie made to make you laugh! In addition to the comedy, the story is good. It's very well conceived such that it comes full circle and all makes sense in the end - a rarity these days the way they have to edit movies to make studios happy and all. And, Billy Bob Thorton - that freak was meant to play this role! He's hilarious in this. The movie even has just the right amount of Ben Stiller, who we sometimes find annoying. Speaking of annoying, though . . . our only real issue with School for Scoundrels is Jon Heder. He does fine in the movie, but it's somewhat disturbing to see him cast in these Napoleon Dynamite-wanna-be roles. He should either do more Napoleon Dynamite movies, or do something else - take serious roles, run the camera, become a pharmacist - ANYTHING - but he's really bugging us with this stuff! Our personal issues aside, though, School for Scoundrels rocks!
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