"Drillbit Taylor" is a melded mold of several films' plots and elements. A couple of dorky teenagers in high school ("Superbad") hire a personal security guard to protect them from bullies ("My Bodyguard"), who appears in the teacher's lounge, at one point, as a dimwitted substitute teacher who fools every administrator ("School of Rock").
And yet, with as this tomfoolery of swiping clichés and stories from other movies, the movie is safeguarded by it charm and surprising sweetness.
Wade (Nate Hartley) and Ryan (Troy Gentile) are being hassled within their first few days of high school by Filkins (Alex Frost), the nasty bully. Wade even has to worry about his step-father who bullies him about his bedroom being a "nerd paradise" with no "chicks on the wall." With fellow freshman and Hobbit-like Emmit (David Dorfman), the guys become increasingly sick and tired of Filkins' terrifying antics.
So they decide to interview and hire the proper bodyguard to protect and serve them from Filkins. The candidates range from a heft black man who works for Tupac "even though he dead" to UFC fighter Chuck Liddell to "My Bodyguard" star Adam Baldwin wearing essentially the same outfit he did in the 1980 film.
Enter Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson). He's an ex-Army Ranger, specializing in covert, black-ops in the Middle East. Oh, and he's homeless, looking to score these kids cash to move to Canada.
As he trains them with facades of defense and attack, Drillbit begins to value the friendship he attains with these kids and a sense of wanting to help them.
However, Taylor isn't too good with confrontation-or women. When he poses as the aforementioned substitute teacher, he meets English teacher Lisa (Leslie Mann) and starts to hit off with her, having passionate trysts in her classroom, all the while hiding the fact he lives off the map-and the road, for that matter.
Produced by current comedy film hotshot Judd Apatow with a screenplay written by Seth Rogen based on a (who knew) John Hughes story, "Drillbit Taylor" is as clichéd as a movie can get. As already evidenced, it borrows from several other films with similar themes and characteristics.
However, like "Mean Girls" as a rehash of "Heathers," "Drillbit" actually works, with charm and general fun, a "Superbad"-lite with less vulgarity and bawdiness but the just the right amount of edge to not gross out everybody. In other words, those offended by the baby crowning in "Knocked Up" or the male frontal nudity in "Walk Hard" can breath a sigh of relief. There still is some language but no explicit descriptions of how gay someone is.
Wilson, this his first film after his alleged suicide attempt and subsequent hospital stay last summer, is coasting and playing the same part he's done in his past dozen movies. It's nothing new or groundbreaking, but it's the right amount of lure without annoying us. Likewise, Mann-Apatow's wife-so brilliant in "Knocked Up," is wasted beyond compare, a mistake that will likely land her hubby on the living room couch for awhile.
These big(ger) stars are upstaged by two things. First, the first appearance of stand-up "insult" comedian Lisa Lampanelli was a genuine, whole-hearted laugh-inducing cameo until that is diluted by her actually playing a small part to the plot. Second, and most importantly, the young castmembers are the real stars here. Hartley, Gentile and Frost lead the pack in protecting some treasured past films from obliteration of corporate bully script recycling.
|
Top Stories
11 Comments
