The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Features  |  Reviews
Best2012Vote-1000x50

School for Scoundrels

A kick in the ass
By TOM MEEK  |  September 27, 2006
2.5 2.5 Stars


Billy Bob Thornton in School for Scoundrels
Boot-camp therapy for lovable losers has long proved a sure-comic formula. If Hitch was a peck on the cheek, then Todd Phillips’s retelling of the 1960 British film (based on Stephen Potter’s novel) is a kick in the ass. It’s Napoleon Dynamite meets Bad Santa, and why not? The personae of those films are pretty much extenuated here. Dynamite’s Jon Heder plays Roger, a dorky meter “maid” who has a crush on Amanda (Jacinda Barrett), his next-door neighbor, but can muster only a panic attack in her presence. Santa’s Billy Bob Thornton is Dr. P, an audacious bastard running a night school for losers yearning to be winners. It’s all fun and empowerment games for Roger — until Dr. P sets his sights on Amanda. Thornton powers the film with his demonic sneer, and Sarah Silverman is a snotty plus as Amanda’s contemptuous roomie. Phillips (Old School) is on his game too, but as the film swings towards conclusion, the lesson plan loses its way.

On the Web
School for Scoundrels 's Web site: http://www.schoolforscoundrels-movie.com/

Related: Sexual Politics, The Benchwarmers, The 100 unsexiest men 2007: 100-91, More more >
  Topics: Reviews , Napoleon Dynamite, Sarah Silverman, Billy Bob Thornton,  More more >
| More

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
[ 02/19 ]   The Addams Family  @ Shubert Theatre
[ 02/19 ]   American Lamb Jam Tour  @ Charles Hotel
[ 02/19 ]   Boston Ballet in "Simply Sublime"  @ Opera House
More Information
ARTICLES BY TOM MEEK
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   REVIEW: UNDERWORLD: AWAKENING  |  January 24, 2012
    The Underworld series got long in the tooth early, but here, in the fourth installment (directed by Swede Måns Mårlind), it grows new fangs.
  •   REVIEW: JOYFUL NOISE  |  January 10, 2012
    There's not much joy but there's plenty of noise of the rafter-rocking gospel singing variety in Tony Graff's musical dramedy.
  •   REVIEW: IN THE LAND OF BLOOD AND HONEY  |  January 05, 2012
    Jolie has loosely reworked the story of Romeo and Juliet in an infamous setting familiar from CNN but here seen from the inside.
  •   REVIEW: ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUNKS: CHIPWRECKED  |  December 13, 2011
    For 50 years, Alvin and the Chipmunks have been driving parents nuts with their helium-infused banter and shrill bastardizations of pop music.
  •   REVIEW: TRESPASS  |  October 13, 2011
    If Rod Lurie's errant remake of Straw Dogs didn't tickle your morbid fear of home invasion, then perhaps the latest from Joel Schumacher ( Falling Down ) might do the job.

 See all articles by: TOM MEEK

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed