SHORT REVIEW: Drillbit Taylor

Drillbit Taylor (Rated PG-13)

Running time: 1 hr 49 mins

Cast:

Owen Wilson
Nate Hartley
Troy Gentile
Alex Frost
Leslie Mann
Josh Peck

Critical consensus:

** out of *****

Matt's Take:

C-

Mikey @ The Movies Official Rating:

** out of *****

The premise

Three kids hire a low-budget bodyguard to protect them from the playground bully.

MY REVIEW

Wow. What an unfunny movie. I hate to say this, but I think freakin' Meet Dave was more humorous than this below average film. What a lackluster and messy story. What was this trying to be? The teenager friendly prequel to Superbad? You have the fat curly-headed kid, the skinny white kid with wavy hair, and the nerdy white kid sidekick with braces. OK. You know how they say "Oh the preview showed all the funny parts" to movies that when viewed by audiences, aren't that funny? Well, here we had a preview that had pretty much no funny parts, and suprise, a film that had little comedy. OK, I chuckled a few times, mainly at the kids comedic delivery, not Owen Wilson (The Wedding Crashers). Do many of you know that Wilson is actually an Oscar nominated screenwriter? For The Royal Tenenbaums if you were curious. He also co-wrote Rushmore. I've never thought he's been that enjoyable of an actor, I never got his humor, and I don't in this one either. The three kids are more charming and funny that he is. Enough about them though. How about Alex Frost (Elephant)? His high school bully character is creepy and beyond insane. I don't know if it was bad acting (probably) or how the character was written (probably a little of both), but this character needs to be locked in a padded room. How does the principal (played by Stephen Root) just sit by and watch this happen? I mean whatever, it's a movie, this kid, his character and situation provided no humorous moments. He was scary. To think, this same kid, who was attacked by bullies in the brilliant film Elephant, shot up that school on a rampage. Maybe he regretted his desicion to shoot all those kids, and wanted to try being the kid who picked on him. OK now I'm just rambling. Josh Peck (Mean Creek, Nickelodeons Drake & Josh) is almost a cameo even though he's the bullies sidekick. He has maybe 10 lines the whole movie. He played a good bully in Mean Creek, perhaps Alex Frost should have asked a few pointers. To round off the acting, Leslie Mann (Knocked Up, George of the Jungle Hehe) has become quite a known actress. She was horrible in George of the Jungle, but brilliantly hillarious in Knocked Up. Here, her character is just so pointless. She comes in kind of late in the story, pops up a few times as the love interest, eh blah blah. I just didn't understand why she was needed. Stupid story, mediocre acting at best, this was just a dumb movie. Not one of the worst of the year, just....ugh.

CURRENT MIKEY @ THE MOVIES AWARD NOMINATIONS:

• None

To view this films theatrical trailer, click this link: Drillbit Taylor

*This is the 58th new film I've seen and reviewed this year.

*This film is now on DVD.