We can't go back to the dear old movie bullies of yesteryear. It's too
late. The world is now officially more dangerous and violent teens
aren't much of a punch line. The new Owen Wilson vehicle "Drillbit
Taylor" knows this. The film's eerily unfunny antagonist skulks around
in a hooded sweatshirt, looking like one of the Columbine perps - as
much as it's possible to do so and still exist inside some sort of
comedy, albeit a queasy and increasingly grim one.
"Drillbit Taylor" makes last summer's very funny "Superbad" look even
better in retrospect. In that film, the three marvelously contrasting
teen geeks played by Michael Cera, Jonah Hill and Christopher
Mintz-Plasse were fully themselves and, at their best, fully hilarious.
They didn't need to prove to anyone they could take a punch, or
re-enact scenes from "My Bodyguard"; their primary transgressions were
trying to grow up too quickly and talking a faster game than they could
play. Judd Apatow produced "Superbad," coming off the huge success of
his even bigger hit "Knocked Up," and together those films told a more
or less continuous story about boy-men learning to become less the boy
and more the man.
"Drillbit Taylor" drags us back to an earlier era of harshly delineated
cliques and fierce, hollow calculation, reminiscent of the well-liked
1980s John Hughes films. I must tread carefully here: I know many
people adore his films. (I do like "Sixteen Candles.") But something
about the nerds-versus-psychopathic-bully premise of "Drillbit Taylor"
is off from the beginning: This old thing again? And while
screenwriters Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen, along with director
Steven Brill, must take the lion's share of the blame, the story credit
is shared by Edmond Dantes, a pseudonym for none other than ... John
Hughes.
It's the first day of high school for 14-year-old chubster Ryan (Tory
Gentile), who apparently spent the last six months watching Jonah Hill
in "Superbad." His best friend is Wade (Nate Hartley), whose beanpole
physique is topped by about 10 pounds of wavy hair. The second they get
to school, they see the super-duper-uber-dork Emmit (David Dorfman)
getting shoved inside a locker by the thuggish Filkins (Alex Frost) and
his No. 1 droog (Josh Peck). The rageful punks announce their intention
to make life unpleasant for our nominal heroes.
Then, in from some other movie, strolls Drillbit, a homeless Army
deserter with a sunny attitude. The plot engineers Drillbit into
position so he can become the boys' bodyguard at school. Everyone
thinks he's a substitute, including the pliable English teacher played
by Leslie Mann. She's fine here, but anyone could've done this role,
whereas in "Knocked Up" Mann made the idea of anyone else in her role
an unthinkable prospect.
After the sixth or seventh scene of not-funny physical violence, the
movie gets down to the business of arranging payback and getting the
audience to root for the sociopaths to really get it. The final
smackdown is more wince-worthy than laugh-getting. If it weren't for
Owen Wilson, ol' reliable when it comes to taking the strain off
material that's trying too hard, I would've wanted outta there bad.
Wilson scores a few laughs, but director Brill keeps ramming the camera
too close to the action. Think that's a minor issue? Pal, putting the
camera in the right place is one of the key tenets of film comedy. When
you have slapstick violence that isn't clever to begin with, and then
you body-slam it visually, you're in trouble. Or else you're in an Adam
Sandler picture, two of which ("Little Nicky" and "Mr. Deeds") Brill
directed.
"Superbad" got a deserved R rating for its unmitigated and gleeful
raunch. "Drillbit Taylor" is cleaner in mouth but far uglier in spirit.
Wilson and Mann do what they can to tone it up, but their scenes belong
to a different film, and a fresher one.
MPAA rating: PG-13 (for crude sexual references throughout, strong
bullying, language, drug references and partial nudity). Running time:
1:42
