Everyone at some point in their life has felt like they needed a little boost in their confidence. For Roger, played by Napoleon Dynamite’s John Heder, his life was approaching an all-time low filled with self-help books and nervous confrontations. After being kicked out of the Big Brothers, Big Sisters program at the local YMCA, Roger desperately needs some help to turn his life around. YMCA co-worker Ian, played by David Cross, gives Roger a phone number that will change his life.
Once Roger gets up the courage to call the number, he is surprised by what he hears. The voice instructs him where to be and when, as well as how much money to bring—in a manila envelope. He is brought to a classroom taught by Dr. P, portrayed by Billy Bob Thornton. The premise of the class is to take men with low self-esteem and help them release their inner lions. Roger meets Diego (Horatio Sanz), Walsh (Matt Walsh), and Eli (Todd Louiso), who will eventually help him graduate the class.
As the class progresses, Roger finds that he is at the top of the class and is excelling at all the challenges Dr. P throws his way. In fact, the class’s first mission is to initiate confrontation once their beepers go off, which puts some of them in hilarious situations. Roger’s success, however, begins to make Dr. P feel the pressure, and more effort is put on competing against Roger rather than teaching him, with the help of some classmates. Once Dr. P realizes why Roger is taking the class, things really start to heat up between them.
Roger’s neighbor Amanda, played by Jacinda Barrett, just happens to be the most beautiful girl he’s ever seen. After failing to express his feelings and getting on Amanda’s roommate’s (Sarah Silverman) nerves, Roger needs help being more confident. Unfortunately for him, Amanda is very beautiful and is drawn to Dr. P’s lies about being a doctor with a deceased wife. The competition becomes really intense when they run into each other at the country club and decide to play doubles tennis, boys against girls. Amanda and her roommate think they are playing an innocent game, but Roger uses this to try to win over Amanda by embarrassing Dr. P. After Roger hits Dr. P with the ball and his racket a few times, Amanda thinks Roger is insane and doesn’t believe him when he tries to explain the school concept.
Overall, the comedy in this movie is well done, but it is sometimes hard to follow the stories between the love matches, competition, and school teachings. Thornton plays the role of a disgruntled middle-aged man very well, and is the perfect actor to portray Dr. P—a character who is as insane as he is wise. Heder’s humor is very similar to his role in Napoleon Dynamite, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. At times when he is trying to be more serious, his goofy nature hinders the acting, but when he is supposed to be silly, the scene works really well. This is definitely a movie for anyone who thinks they need some self-help, or anyone looking for a good laugh at the expense of others’ suffering.
