Roger (Jon Heder) is a meter-reader with little confidence and not a lot to live for. Browbeaten, verbally abused, and harassed by everyone in his life, he takes the advice of his close friend (David Cross) to take a self-esteem class taught by a man named "Dr. P" (Billy Bob Thornton), who is quickly found to be the kind of self-esteem teacher to teach you the ways of confidence and self-worth by providing you with even more verbal abuse in your life. Roger's ultimate goal - besides earning respect from others - is to win the heart of his neighbor, an Australian graduate student named Amanda (Jacinda Barrett), who he can't seem to talk to without being met with a panic attack or fainting.Todd Phillips' School for Scoundrels is a remake of the 1960 film of the same name, which I can only imagine to be a bit nicer and less bossy in its tone and approach to its material. However, despite its over-arching mean-spiritedness as one of its themes, School for Scoundrels actually manages to be a consistently funny comedy, mostly thanks to its capable band of actors, all of whom have had some work in the comedy field and know just what to say and how to say it when the time is right.For starters, consider Billy Bob Thornton, who is simply fearless as Dr. P here. Thornton has a way of assimilating well to any given role, be it a foul-mouthed mall-Santa, a questionable folk from the backwoods, or a browbeating self-esteem teacher. Thornton works well here because he's as brash and as off-color as the material, often assisted by his character's assistant "Lesher," played by Michael Clarke Duncan. Now consider Jon Heder who, before this, only got to show his skills in one of the most lackluster comedies of the last decade. Heder is a solid, sympathetic character here, especially for those who can see his characters' struggles and hunger for acceptance and are willing to buy into it. Some characters in films are the reason for their own problems (take virtually any Adam Sandler film from the nineties), but Heder's Roger is simply a bit geeky and a tad uncoordinated, and for that, is unfortunately the target for abuse and ridicule. On those notes alone, his character is easy to side with because he is relatively blameless.Alongside Heder are the likes of Sarah Silverman as Amanda's friend who continues to give Roger a hard time, Horatio Sanz, Aziz Ansari, David Cross, Dan Fogler, Luis Guzmán, Jim Parsons, and Ben Stiller (however, in a role of questionable value), all of whom very competent comedians who accentuate the quick-witted qualities that got them to that level in the first place. While School for Scoundrels gets by almost entirely on the charisma of its actors, Todd Phillips and Scot Armstrong's writing shouldn't go unnoticed. For the most part, the writing duo create an unabashedly fun, silly comedy with enough consistent laughs to warrant a recommendation.The only struggle for the film is how it wants to achieve its climax, in this case, making the entire "get the girl" subplot too silly and way too overblown. The film was grounded in a certain, goofy reality up until maybe the eighty-minute mark, and for that reason, the film becomes a bit of a struggle to continue to buy into during its last twenty-five minutes. Regardless, it can't derail the comedic talent at hand, along with Jon Heder's Roger, who, for once, isn't picked on because of his own stupidity but for his own genial manner and geeky appearance. He's a character I can see many identifying with.Three years after the release of School for Scoundrels (which bombed at the box office and has now, eight years later, faded into almost complete obscurity), Todd Phillips hit a comedy homerun, financially, after directing all three Hangover films, effectively transcending his career into heavily-raunchy material and leaving geniality behind with School for Scoundrels. This is kind of an upsetting fact because this film has the unsung ability to identify when the two sequels leaching off the original Hangover were nothing but an annoyance to moviegoers. The film at hand rarely achieves comedic heights, but its dramatic ones are worth noting and appear to have been grossly shortchanged.Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Heder, Jacinda Barrett, Sarah Silverman, Horatio Sanz, David Cross, Dan Fogler, Luis Guzmán, Ben Stiller, Jim Parsons, and Aziz Ansari. Directed by: Todd Phillips.

Some audience likes watching Billy Bob Thornton act like a witty smart ass, and in this he is basically a bully that tries to act like a mentor and acts like a smart ass throughout the whole film. I really hated Billy Bob Thornton's character in this movie, in fact it tries to make the audience despise him. There was just no charisma or any witty humor with him this time around. He is basically a prick throughout the whole thing and it's only in it for what he wants and what he wants only, while stomping over others to get it. Jon Heder's character is basically a pansy and a loser in society and is in lover with some girl he thinks he would never have a chance with. So he looks for a mentor, but finds the WRONG one that would screw his life apart and makes everything a test. Never had any high hopes for this movie, but it was just very very slightly better than I thought it would be. The twist and turns are actually predictable if you sort of pay attention, which was for me a bit difficult to do cause I lost interest for most part of this film. I didn't find any of the stuff that happens to be funny, just kinda irritating cause one guy they want you to root for is a major pansy and the so called mentor is a huge prick. That give worldly advice about how to take from society while stomping over other people in order to do so. There is somewhat of a moral it lacked morality, but it doesn't matter cause a lot of stuff was just sloppy and most of the characters were just unlikable. But seeing a uber wimp gradually start to stand up for himself and fight for the girl he is in love with was somewhat nice and yet disappointing. It isn't a terrible movie, but the film was dull and boring for the most part and even has a weak ending to go with it. Although since the way the plot is going there is almost noway around it.4.6/10

Todd Phillips is known for making funny, original comedies. From the director of Road Trip, Old School, Starsky & Hutch, and The Hangover comes School for Scoundrels.Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder star in this funny movie. Heder plays Roger, a hopeless romantic who wants to better his life and get the attention of a girl named Amanda. He attends a class taught by Dr. P, played by Thornton.Dr. P is not afraid to say it like it is. He believes that people have self help books because their self sucks. He has morals that are unusual, but knows how to actually make his students better themselves.Roger has even more to fight for as Dr. P always chooses one student to give a much harder time to. Roger is that student and doesn't know what to do. Later, he stands up to Dr. P and ends up graduating his class.This movie has some laughs, but lacks some morality. It is still a solid effort by director Todd Phillips. Phillips knows how to make a movie and original, but this one was a little cheesy, but still a sold effort. There is also a hilarious cameo by Ben Stiller as a former student who also got picked on by Dr. P.

I like Jon Heder. I liked him in "Benchwarmers". I liked him (less) in "Blades of Glory". He's a likable guy.The problem with "School for Scoundrels" is that Jon's inherent likability is all about his inability to win through. Even when he wins, it's more about everyone winning than Jon's characters winning at his "opponents" expense."School for Scoundrels" tells the story of a bunch of losers who encounter a teacher who turns them into lesser losers. They're all very happy for the uprating in coolness, but at what price? Throw in a plot that twists and turns, and then keeps twisting and turning, and an annoying cameo by the usually film-stealing Ben Stiller, and what unfolds is a tale that ultimately left me feeling uninterested in this movie...chiefly because it offers nothing by the way of interesting outcomes. Which is unfortunate because one plot twist more (or indeed fewer) and you'd have something worth talking about.The movie ultimately falls between two stools. And just so we're clear, the one stool is a "Revenge of the Nerds' remake, and the other stool is an "Anger Management" remake - see what I mean? Oh, and Billy-Bob Thornton. Yeah. Whatever. Don't see what all the fuss is about.