Roger Dodger

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There are millions of women in this city, Nick. Millions.

"Sex is Everywhere" - Roger Swanson

Roger Swanson is a smooth-talking, Madison Avenue copy-writer, with an uncanny ability to cold-read people. When he isn't applying his skill by "reminding consumers that they're missing something from their lives" and that "his product is the only thing that can fill the void", he will be applying it to women in bars. Despite his ability, his cynicism and down-right insulting characterizations of the women around him are a turn-off, such that he is Hoist by His Own Petard.

Roger's nephew, Nick, is visiting New York scouting universities and pays his uncle a visit. While out to lunch, Nick confesses that he doesn't have a girlfriend and finds it difficult to talk to girls. Within the family, Roger is known as a ladies man, so Nick asks his uncle for help. Roger's offer "So, you need help with the ladies, Nick?" becomes the premise of the film.

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Tropes used in Roger Dodger include:

• Alcohol Is Poison: The position taken by Nick out of principle instead of pregnancy, before being rebuked by his uncle. He later refuses coffee, stating that he doesn't put caffeine into his body. Roger abstaining from launching into a lecture about the importance of coffee in society, as he had with alcohol, men's ability to read maps etc, is used as a sign of character growth.
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Discussed by the main characters, wherein Roger is able to extract a confession from Andrea that for her this principle is actually true.

Roger: "Ask any woman, What's the single most attractive quality a man can possess? And what do they invariably answer? - Sense of humor... And yet, if two lean, mean, play-by-their-own-rules... motorcycle-riding men strolled up to this booth... and beat the shit out of us two humorous guys, right, and asked you out for a ride, you would be weak at the knees." Andrea: "Well, actually, guys who ride cycles are pretty sexy. "

• • Subverted with Roger, however; while he's unquestionably an asshole, he fails to get anywhere with her.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Prevented.

Sophie: "Don't spoil the wonderful time we had tonight."

• Changed My Mind, Kid: An unusual example, as Roger puts Nick in 'danger' in the first place..
• Crazy Prepared: Nick wears a medic alert bracelet with instructions to have him cryogenically frozen in case of premature death.

Roger: "All right. Leave it. It's spastic enough to be charming. "

• Couldn't Find a Pen: Roger's message for Donovan.
• Female Gaze: Discussed (sarcastically) by the characters.
• Gretzky Has the Ball: Played for laughs

Roger: "Why give into a slump? Let's go down swinging." Nick: "Yes. Like Michael Jordan." Roger: "Right. That's the wrong sport, but I like your enthusiasm."

• Handsome Lech: Roger, not that it gets him very far.
• Hey, It's That Guy!: Jesse Eisenberg, now known for his role as Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network.
• In Da Club: Subverted, the duo must sneek in and hide behind foliage.
• Inherently Funny Words: Roger and his work colleagues muse over what might be the plural of 'clitoris'

Roger: "Future generations of women will evolve clitorises... clitori... clitorati...? Joyce: "Clitorissimo."

• It Got Worse: The fail-safe.
• Jerkass: Roger.
  • Turned up to 11 when he becomes jealous that Nick is more appealing to Andrea and Sophie than himself, and when he leaves Nick to sleep with his colleague so drunk she soon passes out and again when he leaves an intentionally crude message for Donovan on Joyce's mirror.
• Male Gaze: Discussed by the characters
• Motor Mouth: Roger
• Opening Monologue: Roger's opening monologue about sex and natural selection establishes his character.
• Sensei for Scoundrels: Roger. He may simply be an Evil Mentor.
• Shy Bladder: Nick
• Smoking Is Cool: Roger
• Title Drop: By Nick

Nick: "My mom says that when Roger was little, he could talk himself out of anything. He never got in trouble, even when he got caught. She called him Roger Dodger."

• Urban Legend Love Life: Roger
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Nick, as Roger does not hesitate to ruin the romance between Nick and Sophie when he finds Andrea has no interest in him, and his 'I'm secretly married' shtick falls flat.
• You Need to Get Laid: Established as the premise of the film, but is ultimately averted as the Aesop becomes 'family is paramount'