Release Date: March 21st, 2008 Studio: Columbia Pictures MPAA Rating: PG-13 Genre: Action •
Comedy Director: Steven Brill Writers: Kristofor Brown, Seth Rogen, John Hughes (Edmond Dantes), Cast: Owen Wilson, Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, David Dorfman, Beth Littleford, Lisa Lampanelli, Leslie Mann, Frank Whaley, Valerie Tian, Adam Baldwin, Cedric Yarbrough Synopsis: Ryan (Troy Gentile), Wade (Nate Hartley) and Emmit (David Dorfman) attend their first day at high school and they’re pumped… until they meet up with Filkins (Alex Frost), a school bully who comes off like a little Hannibal Lecter.
Before they become completely engulfed in Filkins’ reign of terror, they seek out some protection by placing an ad in Soldier of Fortune magazine. Their best response – and the cheapest – comes from Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson), a down-on-his luck soldier of fortune who lives a homeless – he likes to say “home-free” – existence on the beach. He enrolls them in some physical and mental training. The Review: I've seen two flicks in the last seven days that have Judd Apatow's crew in the kitchen; the first was pure GOLD! The second however..not so much.
Even screen teen king John Hughes had a hand in this one, and hmmm, for some reason he’s using his pen name Edmond Dantes. Something he's used on projects like those Beethoven movies, and Maid in Manhattan… see a pattern? Yeah, let's move on.
Sure, Drillbit got its heart from “My BodyGuard”, and even pays its respects as such with a cameo from Adam Baldwin, but my question is; “Why not just remake said film?” instead of hinging 90% of the film's charms on Owen Wilson’s shtick?
Don’t get me wrong - I love watching Owen do what he does best as much as the next dude, but when it’s used as a plot device and ignores the heart of what the film should be, it gets tiring and after a fashion pointless and dull.
The boys of this movie should have been at the center of everything, and watching them come out on top at the end would have been twice as sweet without Drillbit lending a hand along the way. It winds up sending a message that when you can’t handle an enemy, you find someone bigger who can do it for you. Kinda sucks.
Back in my day I got into plenty of scraps, and despite my size even got picked on by jock douche bags traveling in packs, or the random wannabe gangsta. I even got my ass kicked a time or six but ya know what? It made the victories all the more savored, and I never resorted to unfair tactics, weapons, or any of the other bullshit. Sure I had a few smaller friends who got their heads kicked in who asked me to run off and hand someone their ass… and dammit I admit I certainly did that a time or two as well, even when it wasn’t justified. But I felt horrible about it later and Drillbit should as well. Those boys stood up to face the music, but in the end it all comes down to Drillbit to save the day and it just sucks.
The laughs in this movie are few and far between, most hitting in the last 20 minutes of this long drawn out story. 102 minutes? Really? You could cut this down to 80 minutes and not lose a single bit of the story going on.
Bottom line: If you love Owen Wilson, then you’ll probably enjoy seeing him do his thing, otherwise just wait for the DVD on this one. Rating:
