Drillbit Taylor Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)March 20th, 2008
DRILLBIT TAYLOR
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): * 1/2
DRILLBIT TAYLOR, a PG-13 version of SUPERBAD, is a juvenile comedy aimed at tween boys. Adults and kids older than fourteen, however, will find little to laugh at, given the film's lame and repetitive humor.
The setup has three canonical dorks -- one extra fat, one extra skinny and one extra short -- starting their first day of high school. These instant out-crowd boys are played by three actors delivering three quite generic performances. Troy Gentile plays tubby Ryan, Nate Hartley plays skinny Wade and David Dorfman plays little Emmit. The three of them are harassed by Filkins (Alex Frost), the school bully. Filkins is an eighteen-year-old emancipated minor who lives alone. Of course, the principal and the parents don't believe a word about Filkins's reported hazing. Surely, Ryan, Wade and Emmit must be exaggerating their complaints.
Since the authorities refuse to take the boys seriously, our three wimps decide to hire a bodyguard. But, with less than one hundred dollars to spend, they have trouble finding anyone who will take on the assignment of protecting them from the high school bully. Their savior comes in the unlikely form of a beach bum (Owen Wilson) euphemistically referred to as a homeless man. Living in the woods near the beach, Drillbit enjoys taking morning showers on the beach as passersby stare at his naked butt. Shots of Wilson's naked rear end and a few bad words are about all that keeps the movie from getting a pure PG rating.
Drillbit, whose real name is Alamo, except it isn't -- he lies a lot -- is an ex-black ops agent from the military. Actually, he is a guy so in touch with his feminine side that he'd probably scream if he saw a mouse. The world's worst bodyguard, he spends most of the movie discovering reasons why now it isn't a good time for him to take on Filkins.
Director Steven Brill brings the same lack of skill that he brought to WITHOUT A PADDLE, his last picture, which was even worse than DRILLBIT TAYLOR. The reason DRILLBIT TAYLOR was made at all is probably because of Seth Rogen. Rogen, who co-wrote the script for DRILLBIT TAYLOR as well as SUPERBAD, has been a star ever since his role as one of the leads in THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN, one of the biggest comedy hits of recent years.
If you've ever been to high school, you could probably come up with most of the gags we see here. Typical of them is the quintessential high school stunt of stuffing a little kid into a locker. If the mere thought of that has you smiling, you may still be young enough at heart to enjoy DRILLBIT TAYLOR. Otherwise, suffering through DRILLBIT TAYLOR will remind you of the last time your dentist used his drill bit on you.
DRILLBIT TAYLOR runs a long 1:42. It is rated PG-13 for "crude sexual references throughout, strong bullying, language, drug references and partial nudity" and would be acceptable for kids around 9 and up.
The film opens nationwide in the United States on Friday, March 21, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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