Drillbit Taylor
Director: Steven Brill
Cast: Owen Wilson, Leslie Mann, Nate Hartley
Rated: PG-13
102 minutes
High school, for the vast majority of people, was hell. Mostly because that’s where you learned about the evil bastards known as bullies. Once out of high school you realize the world continues to be full of evil people but at least they’re easier to avoid and occasionally they make for good movie plots.
The latest bully movie to hit the screen is Drilbit Taylor, a film taking much from its 1980’s predecessor, My Bodyguard. Adam Baldwin even has a cameo as a tip of the hat to when he was hired to protect kids from the evil Mat Dillon. Sadly, this recent version has none of the good qualities of the many films it rips off.
Most disappointing is that this film is an Apatow/Rogen production. It looks like this will be a film of removing credibility, first from Apatow and Rogen (yoink) who were doing well before now. Yet here we have a baffling Superbad carbon copy with a bully theme put in. The kids, although fine actors, look and behave almost exactly like the Superbad cast.
Which brings us to Owen Wilson, yet another name with sketchy credibility. Seriously overexposed for quite a while it’s obvious he has also been removed as a name you can trust. Thankfully his brother Luke continues to do the family name proud.
There is little to no reason for anyone to see this film, while not deserving the title of worse ever, it certainly doesn’t warrant your time or concern.