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SCREEN SCENES: “School for Scoundrels”

Brian Segna (Contact)
Published: Sunday, September 24, 2006

“School for Scoundrels”

Director Todd Phillips

MGM

(Out Of 5)

Jon Heder can only sigh and shake his head as he recounts the moment from his youth when he made the conscious decision to strip to his underwear and plunge into a freezing pond. His feeble attempt to impress a girl is embarrassing even today, though then he had no idea that those antics would be catalysts for a seven-figure paycheck.

In fact, the “Napoleon Dynamite” star plays a very similar confidence-lacking character in this fall’s first quirky comedy “School for Scoundrels.”

“I really was like the character in (“School for Scoundrels”) in high school,” said Heder during a recent press conference. “I had no confidence with women.”

Having already lived the parallel teenage life, Heder is no stranger to the awkward character, but ultimately it becomes only a watered-down version of Napoleon Dynamite.

And it is such pervading familiarity that ultimately makes “School for Scoundrels” the weakest film that producer, director and cowriter Todd Phillips (“Old School” and “Starsky & Hutch”) has offered yet.

A lack of originality permeates the carelessly written and transparent plot, driven by less-than-extraordinary acting.

After embarrassing himself one too many times in front of the girl of his dreams, Roger (Heder) decides to enroll in an underground class meant to teach a group of “losers” how to hold their own in the dating world. The teacher is the intense and ruthless Dr. P., played by Billy Bob Thornton.

Thornton’s character gives the group of “Scoundrels” a series of trite rules to follow while dating including “be dangerous,” and “lie about everything.” They are assigned “Project Mayhem”-esque missions, such as “start a confrontation with a stranger” to boost confidence – yet these just aren’t pulled off with the same panache as in “Fight Club.”

But just as Roger breaks out of his shell and begins to make impressive headway with the girl he has fallen for, the ultra-competitive Dr. P decides to win over Roger’s girl (Australian actress Jacinda Barrett, “Ladder 49”) for himself. In a ruthless battle over the girl, it becomes obvious that a winner must be declared.

It’s intriguing enough, even though the premise is unoriginal; it’s adapted from the 1960 film “School for Scoundrels or How to Win Without Actually Cheating!”

And though Heder and Phillips were successful comic filmmakers with “Napoleon Dynamite” and “Old School,” respectively, “Scoundrels” is ultimately a poor mixture of the two with a romantic twist.

“School for Scoundrels” certainly does have a few successful moments – mostly based on “Napoleon” and “Old School” humor bleeding through from time to time. But it is tough to justify 101 minutes of film based on rare, isolated allusions to better films.

So rather than continuing to strip to their underwear and jump in the same freezing pond, it might be nice to see Heder and Phillips find a new way to impress their audience.

E-mail Segna at bsegna@media.ucla.edu.