SCHOOL FOR SCOUNDRELS — ** — Jon Heder, Billy Bob Thornton, Jacinda Barrett; rated PG-13 (violence, profanity, vulgarity, nude artwork, brief drugs).
For a change, "School for Scoundrels" finds Jon Heder playing at least a slightly different variation on the same doofus he's played continuously since hitting it big with "Napoleon Dynamite" in 2004.
Actually, it's Billy Bob Thornton who's repeating himself by playing the same foul-mouthed jerk he's already played in such dark comedies as "Bad Santa," "The Ice Harvest" and the "Bad News Bears" remake.
But strangely, it's actually Thornton's amusing performance that makes the first half of this silly film watchable. After that, Ben Stiller comes along to do a painfully unfunny supporting bit and pretty much sucks all the remaining funny out of the movie.
Besides, even the best parts of this film pale in comparison to its source material, the 1960 comedy starring Terry Thomas and Alistair Sim.
Heder stars in this version of the tale as Roger, a New York "meter maid" — as he's derisively referred to a couple of times — who lacks self-confidence. Roger can't even talk to his dream girl, his lovely neighbor Amanda (Jacinda Barrett), without passing out. So on the advice of a friend he decides to take a self-assertiveness class.
However, his teacher is the abusive Dr. P (Thornton), who doles out hard-knock lessons to teach his wimpy students to be more confident and confrontational. Surprisingly, Roger turns out to be his star pupil — but then the two begin fighting over Amanda.
Director Todd Phillips and longtime screenwriting cohort Scot Armstrong ("Old School," "Starsky & Hutch") can't resist going for cheap laughs. There are some real chuckles during the first hour, but the Stiller bits are desperately unfunny and clearly show they had no idea where to take this material.
The film also makes you wonder about Heder's career. When he's not playing Napoleon Dynamite, he's just sort of bland and inoffensive.
"School for Scoundrels" is rated PG-13 for scenes of comic violence (paintball fights, brawling and pratfalls), occasional strong profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word), crude sexual language and other humor about bodily and sexual functions, glimpses of nude artwork (drawings), and some brief drug content (use of mace). Running time: 100 minutes.
E-mail: jeff@desnews.com