Starring Jon Heder (Napoleon Dynamite) as a bullied traffic cop who takes a course in self-confidence from a boorish womanizer (Billy Bob Thornton), this means to trace Heder – and his character’s – transformation from lovable loser to just plain lovable. Yet the movie’s gooey pursuit of that goal works in direct opposition to the comedy. Once Heder gains confidence from his teacher (Thornton mainly does his Bad Santa routine), the movie goes soft and Heder ironically loses whatever awkward star quality he had. I’d rather root for someone who is uncomfortably gawky than yet another romantic-comedy zombie.
