School for Scoundrels (2006)
Average Rating: 4.6/10
Reviews Counted: 139
Fresh: 35 | Rotten: 104
School for Scoundrels squanders its talented cast with a formulaic, unfocused attempt at a romantic comedy that's neither romantic nor funny.
Average Rating: 4.7/10
Critic Reviews: 35
Fresh: 10 | Rotten: 25
School for Scoundrels squanders its talented cast with a formulaic, unfocused attempt at a romantic comedy that's neither romantic nor funny.
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Average Rating: 3.2/5
User Ratings: 107,301
Movie Info
Old School director Todd Phillips takes the reins for an updated remake of the 1960 comedy, this time starring Napoleon Dynamite's Jon Heder as Roger, a lovelorn meter reader who enrolls in a confidence-building class in order to win the love of his dream girl, and Billy Bob Thornton as Dr. P, the scheming, egomaniacal teacher who has designs of his own for the attractive young female. The rivalry soon spins out of control, as pranks and insults fly fast and furiously in a battle to determine
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Cast
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Billy Bob Thornton
Dr. P -
Jon Heder
Roger -
Jacinda Barrett
Amanda -
Michael Clarke Duncan
Lesher -
Luis Guzman
Sergeant Moorehead -
David Cross
Ian -
Horatio Sanz
Diego -
Sarah Silverman
Becky -
Matt Walsh
Walsh -
Todd Louiso
Eli -
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All Critics (143) | Top Critics (36) | Fresh (35) | Rotten (104) | DVD (17)
It's the stuff of simple comedy, but as frat-flicks go it's a return to form for director Todd Phillips.
Things get increasingly dopey in the final act, leading to an incredibly stupid ending, but I have to admit I laughed just enough to recommend School for Scoundrels.
You want it to be over long before the needless epilogue that fills you in on how all these freaks turned out.
Top CriticIt feels as if director Phillips was scrounging desperately for morsels with comic potential and came up empty-handed.
School for Scoundrels is an exercise in advanced comedic embalming.
While the film is demeaned by sight gags aimed at teenage boys, it has a smart center and delightful performances from Heder and Thornton.
School for Scoundrels has some solid opportunities for real dark comedy, but blows most of them for maudlin romantic-comedy tripe, and the ones it does go for it never takes far enough.
Dismal comedy about nerds trying to be cool.
School for Losers would have made a lot more sense.
...the film remains consistently watchable thanks to Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong's surprisingly clever screenplay and the uniformly effective performances.
You might want to sign up for study hall instead.
The only link to the original books is the name Dr P given to the foulmouthed teacher of a New York class offering assertiveness training to pathetic nerds. He's played by Billy Bob Thornton, which is rather like casting Burt Reynolds as Bertrand Russell.
It's funny at first, but then loses its way so badly that it somehow winds up as a high-tech espionage thriller.
Only toward the end of the film do the hostilities reach a level of recklessness with any potential to be funny. If things had started at that pitch and been ramped up from there, Phillips might have had a movie worth making.
The comic sallies and set-pieces are very much at the wrong end of the bang-whimper spectrum.
Billy Bob phones in a below-par performance but still blows his young rival off the screen.
Unlike the original, this version is never sure whether it wants to go to the dark side or not.
Wearily spins straw out of its none-too-original premise.
Charmless, uncomprehending US remake.
It's not funny; there were three laughs I counted over the entire course of the movie.
A choice cast fails to turn this woeful slapstick into the scathing attack on weak minds the film half promises.
Crass, obvious and largely unfunny - in fact just about everything the original film isn't.
The characters are one-dimensional, the plot makeshift, and the jokes unrelentingly cruel.
As a comedy it can never sustain itself, and while there are moments to enjoy, it is all pretty forgettable, which is a shame because the concept remains an amusing one.
The performances ensure that this is never less than watchable but it's not as clever or as funny as it should have been.
Ben Stiller cameo apart, something's wrong when a proven comedic property and two well-matched stars can scarcely raise a titter.
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Movie: ID: 287865427 Title: School for Scoundrels Release Date: 2006-09-23 00:00:00.0 MPAA: 3 Status: 1
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