If you mix Fight Club with Revenge of the Nerds you will have a good idea of what to expect from School for Scoundrels. Is it formulaic? Yes. Is it funny? Totally.
The premise is this: A young guy short on luck, enrolls in a class to build confidence to help win over the girl of his dreams, which becomes complicated when his teacher has the same agenda. The movie stars Billy Bob Thorton (as the teacher), Jon Heder (the loser looking for confidence), Michael Clark Duncan, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller and Jacinda Barrett (as the love interest).
I was curious to see how Jon Header (Napoleon Dynamite) would do with a regular leading role, yes he is still playing a weird loser but it feels like a real person this time, not just a Napoleon style character. This movie confirms that the guy can act, not only that but (call me crazy) I thought he almost looked cute with his pretty blue eyes.
There are some hilarious moments, Michael Clark Duncan is great as the teacher’s assistant. One of my favorite parts is the paint ball incident that involves some of the students almost having to squeal like pigs for Duncan and well…it’s gold.
Billy Bob Thorton is very generous with sharing the screen with Jon Header, he lets Header (and many of the other characters) shine with quirkiness while he played the straight man.
Everything works and it makes sense because according to director/writer Todd Phillips there were no real scoundrels on set. True Billy Bob Thorton says that after playing Bad Santa wherever Hollywood needs an asshole they call him up but from everyone else was saying Thorton is definitely the kind of asshole who people are dying to work with.
It’s a movie of moments for sure but luckily there are more than enough funny scenes and lines to keep everyone happy. I give this movie a solid eight out of ten. For a no, go, or Routh this is a feel good routh.
