School for Scoundrels
User Score
5.3 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 24 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 10 out of 24
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 24
  3. Negative: 10 out of 24

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  1. KelR.
    Oct 1, 2006
    1
    I've seen some comments about the movie being racist; but another feather in this movies cap is that it's sexist as well. We have yet another movie that portraits the pathetic modern day white male, you know, with his virtually retarded IQ and his nervous twitchy behavior around women. He's way too nice, and is a perpetual wimp. Hmm, maybe it's because society tells him to be this way by making movies like this. Honestly, these movies have been done to DEATH, how about they teach young men to accept and love themselves without having to change for a woman? Aside from that this movie is just plain stupid, who is it's target audience? Barely any of the writing is believable. Oh, and whats up with people on here who give the movie a 10 and also complain about it in their review? Well, I guess they would be the kind to like this movie...… Expand
  2. Spongeee
    Oct 16, 2006
    2
    When will Billy Bob stop cursing and being so nasty...its not funny. I wish Napoleon Dynamite was in this movie...it would have made it half way decent. This movie sucks!
  3. ThomasT.
    Sep 28, 2006
    1
    See the original British film. It has class rather than crass.
  4. DWilly
    Sep 30, 2006
    3
    Not aimed so low as to fill me with disgust (as with the walkout necessary for Heder's "Bench Warmers"), but it's basically the same lazy, tone deaf crap churned out by this same narrow circle. The formula is to have clean production values, a lot of mean quips from everybody, regardless of how it relates to their character (but then anybody can do anything regardless of the sense it makes for their character), keep all the acting "real," cutting actors like David Cross off at the knees, occasionally suggest, but only suggest, something truly savage, and pass off some romance without intimacy... oh, and you have to have a very broad cameo by either Will Farrell or Ben Stiller but usually Ben Stiller.… Expand
  5. E.F.
    Sep 25, 2006
    1
    What a waste of time, and what a lack of effort. The jokes fall flat, anything that could save it is underdeveloped, and its just simply embarrassing to watch at times. This is two hours of my life I am never getting back, and 18 dollars I could have spent on something more important like laundry detergent, to get the stink off of me after watching this.
  6. CN.
    Sep 27, 2006
    0
  7. ChadS.
    Sep 29, 2006
    3
    We've seen "Annie Hall", and "School for Scoundrels", you're no "Annie Hall". Referencing the 1977 romantic-comedy classic doesn't do this romance-free, comedy-free dud any favors, chiefly because Jon Heder fails to convince us that a girl like Amanda(Jacinda Barrett) could possibly fall for him. Give her someone like Duckie, not Napoleon Dynamite with better hair; or give the girl a flaw like Tourettes Syndrome to help explain why her "I-can-have-any-man-I-want"-potential is wasted on Roger. Billy Bob Thornton picked the wrong project to reprise his Bad Santa-persona. Mean-spiritedness is just mean without the levity of successful humor.… Expand
  8. GregA.
    Sep 29, 2006
    2
    Sheesh. What a waste of talent. How did a movie get made with the usually funny Billy Bob Thorton, and great character actors such as Luis Guzman, Sarah Silverman, Tod Louiso, and others not garnishing one laugh amoung them all? It's the screenplay -- everyone is either too dumb to even give the hint of believeability or too nice to make this anything worth laughing at a dark comedy. I didn't want him to get the girl, or anyone to get the girl. I didn't even want the girl to end up happy. None of them had any personality I cared about, except Billy Bob, and even then he changed with requirements of the script, not with anything that seemed logical. And I don't go to these movies for reality, but this was just beyond stupid. Stupid, and worse than that -- boring.… Expand
  9. ZardozO.
    Sep 28, 2007
    3
    Like the critics said... Starts off well and then rolls over and plays... dead.
  10. asylumspadez
    Nov 26, 2011
    4
    Billy Bob Thorton is a great lead and plays a wonderful villian and is perfect for this film. Jon Heder though is a terrible lead that does not do a good job at selling his role. What started off promising slowly goes down hill. While there are a few funny moments, You wont miss much by skipping this film.

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
44 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 28 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 14 out of 28
  3. Negative: 9 out of 28
  1. Rolling Stone
    Reviewed by: Peter Travers
    75
    Uproarious and unexpectedly biting.
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  2. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    50
    Picture seemed certain to either fly high on outrageous humor or crash under the weight of tastelessness. Instead, the movie just sits there and never comes alive.
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  3. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Robert Wilonsky
    70
    Dr. P (Billy Bob Thornton) is a classy, cool brand of vile--the demented drill sergeant in a designer suit. And Heder, cast in the role of the invisible man, is fine too. The movie wouldn't work without someone as nondescript as Heder.
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