Low on self-esteem, beleaguered New York City meter maid, Roger (Jon Heder) enrolls in a top-secret, confidence building class run by the curt and tyrannical Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton), with the aid of his brutish assistant, Lesher (Michael Clarke Duncan).  Although his methods are sometimes dangerous and always unorthodox, Dr. P guarantees that his approach will unleash a man’s inner lion, and employing Dr. P’s techniques seem to work for Roger.  Roger even has the confidence to ask his neighbor, Amanda (Jacinda Barrett), for a date, but soon after, the underhanded Dr. P. has moved in on Amanda.  That sparks are minor war between pupil and teacher that finds Roger determined to beat Dr. P. at his own game and regain Amanda’s affections.

Todd Phillips apparently wanted his new comedy, School for Scoundrels, to be both a raucous, black comedy and a romantic comedy, and only the winning presence of Jon Heder saves the boisterous comedy part.  A similar fate befell his popular 2003 comedy, Old School, which was wild and subversive until Phillips (or the studio) tamed it at the end to turn Old School into a wishy-washy validation of suburban family values (not that those values are something bad).  This slight remake (re-imagining) of the 1960 British film, School for Scoundrels or How to Win Without Actually Cheating, has many funny moments, but is mostly stiff, sometimes dry, and even dead in a few spots.

While Billy Bob Thornton tries to force life into his character (and his face looks like it received some plastic surgery), Jon Heder makes School for Scoundrels his own.  Ever since Napoleon Dynamite, Heder has excelled at playing the everyman-as-lovable doofus, and here he does it as if it were his birthright.  Still, he takes the character places beyond mere goof status, and in those moments when Roger isn’t being goofy or a victim, Heder flashes some startling dramatic chops.  School for Scoundrels is worth seeing for him.

C+

A version of this review appeared at http://www.negromancer.com.