I loved Jon Heder as Napoleon Dynamite. I had no desire to see either of his two efforts that followed N. D., Just Like Heaven and Benchwarmers, however. I should have passed on School for Scoundrels, as well.

"School" focuses on a group of passive men who take a class to help them become more assertive. The main conflict in the story involves one of the students (Heder) and the teacher of the class (Billy Bob Thornton). They engage in a good ol’ battle royale to determine who is truly the Alpha Male, which of course, revolves around winning the girl (Jacinda Barrett).

The cast also has Michael Clarke Duncan as the sadistic teacher’s aid, Ben Stiller as a failed student, Luiz Guzman as an insensitive boss, Sarah Silverman as the cynical friend of the pursued female, David Cross as the friend who encourages Heder’s character to take the class, and Horatio Sanz (of Saturday Night Live fame), Todd Louiso (8 Heads in a Duffel Bag; Snakes on a Plane) and Matt Walsh (Upright Citizens Brigade) as classmates. Despite all this comedic talent, the film is just not that funny. It has a few funny moments, but overall, is not very humorous at all.

Writer/Director Todd Phillips previously brought us Road Trip, Old School and Starsky and Hutch. Those films were great due to the buddy factor. You had groupings of friends that played off of each other in interesting situations to yield laughs o’ plenty. School is missing this factor.

School tries too hard to get laughs from tired slapstick stunts like getting hit in the balls and fails to pull off a running gag about male rape (it’s too obviously trying to get a laugh by making light of a taboo subject). The characters aren’t well developed, thereby failing to foster any interest in the outcome of events since there is a lack of sympathy for the characters. It is just a generally lackluster movie.

It seems that a story that has been a novel and two screenplays would be more interesting than this. Sadly, it isn’t. School is good for a few (very few) laughs, but not much else.

Grade: C-