| DRILLBIT TAYLOR |
 2008 - USADirector: Steven Brill
- Reviewed by Linda
This time, however, to make the movie more unnecessarily wretched, they throw in Owen Wilson, starring as Owen Wilson. In Drillbit Taylor he is, most unfortunately, named Drillbit Taylor. And, get this: he is a heee-larious homeless guy! Drillbit and his buddies hang out at outdoor cafes, sitting at tables and eating leftover sandwiches from other customers. Drillbit showers in full glory, right there on the surfing beach, riffs (and asks for money) with his favorite drive-by commuters, and sleeps in the bushes. Why, being homeless is loads of fun! But Drillbit wants to go to Canada, where he's heard that BC chicks are hot, and he can have a fresh start. (Boy, Drillbit is in for a shock when he finds out how crappy is it to be homeless in the Pacific Northwest's climate... that's all that I can say.) To earn money to go to Canada, Drillbit answers an ad from the Superbad kids to be their bodyguard. But he's Owen Wilson! Of course he's a crappy bodyguard! He just wants to take a nap in the school field, ignoring the desperate calls on the walkie-talkie as his charges once again get violently assaulted in the halls of the school. He teaches them half-assed self-defense, and mooches off of their kindness (not to mention their parents' valuables). But it isn't until Drillbit dons a borrowed suit and infiltrates the high school as a faux substitute teacher that he really starts to make things happen! Wilson sleepwalks through the role, playing a slight variation on the loveable slacker that he always plays. The kids' roles are underwritten: Troy Gentile as fat Ryan seems to be doing an impression of Neal Schweiber from Freaks, and David Dorfman as the eager sidekick Emmit is like a hysterical mouse (and I don't mean funny). Lanky Nate Hartley (as lanky Wade) makes the most valiant effort among the boys, though is left with a totally predictable story arc involving a cute-girl crush. So why was I so generous, giving the film two whole slices? One slice goes to the bodyguard interview scene, where a motley group of caricatures, from a Russian gangster to a Asian martial arts master, speak to the camera, vying for the job. In a brief and brilliant moment, there, suddenly, is Adam Baldwin, the original high-school bodyguard from My Bodyguard! And the other slice goes to sorely under-used Leslie Mann as a teacher with a crush on Drillbit. She gave me the only true chuckle of the film, simply with the visual of a seductive look combined with a roll of Scotch tape. Needless to say, the rest of the film left me with a stone face. DVD NOTESThe Drillbit Taylor: Extended Survival Edition DVD features commentary (by Steven Brill, Kristofor Brown, Troy Gentile, Nate Hartley and David Dorfman... but no Seth Rogen), a whole bunch of deleted and extended scenes that we did not miss, a bit about the writers, and some making-of behind the scenes stuff. |
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Here's an honest question: Is it possible to plagiarize yourself? The reason I ask is this: Drillbit Taylor is like a sadly unfunny, PG-13 ripoff of Superbad (combined with ample doses of Freaks and Geeks and My Bodyguard—which was released when this movie's target audience wasn't even born). The thing is, Seth Rogen, one of the credited writers of Drillbit Taylor, also co-wrote Superbad and co-starred in Freaks and Geeks. Superbad stars a skinny, floppy-haired high-school dork, and a short, fat, high-school dork with a white-boy 'fro. So does Drillbit Taylor (though the kids have a couple years shaved off). The dorks are outcasts, but talk about how this year everything is going to be different. They desperately want to fit in, but super-mean bullies stand in their way.
