| The
Movie:
Drillbit Taylor makes quite an accomplishment in that
it is a PG-13-rated film that has the feel of last year’s
R-rated Superbad. Most of the vulgarity that made Apatow’s
previous venture inappropriately hilarious has absconded
to unknown horizons, and Drillbit is left with utilizing
more crafty means at achieving laughs. Not necessarily
more intelligent, but certainly less crude, the similarly
hilarious lead characters all find their perfect places
in this consistently amusing comedy.
Three kids experience bullying at school by antagonizer
Filkins, an emancipated student who revels in terrorizing
smaller kids. On their first day at high school, Wade
(Nate Hartley as the Harry-Potter-like scrawny kid),
Ryan (Troy Gentile as the overweight kid with the never-ending
ranting) and Emmit (David Dorfman as the kid-who-gets-shoved-in-a-locker)
can’t seem to evade constant humiliation at the
hands of nemesis Filkins. Only able to take so much,
the three decide to hire a bodyguard to defend them.
In a riotous job-interview montage, the trio chooses
Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson), an ex-black-ops and improvised
weapons expert, who teaches them to stick up for themselves.
During the process, Drillbit gets sidetracked with aggressive
teacher Lisa (Leslie Mann) and the truth that he is
nothing more than a homeless bum who yearns for the
good life in Canada.
7/10
Read
the rest of Mike Massie theatrical review HERE.
Special Features:
A commentary track is perhaps the most entertaining
special feature on the new Extended Survival Edition
of Drillbit Taylor. It features Steven Brill, Kristofor
Brown, Troy Gentile, Nate Hartley and David Dorfman,
and essentially has the kids talk about the movies they
like, while the adults talk about how much fun it was
to work with kids. Sadly Seth Rogen is absent from the
track, but he makes an appearance in the next featurette
in which he discusses the film with partner screenwriter
Kristofor Brown.
A whopping 13 deleted and extended scenes are offered
up as a special feature, which doesn’t even include
the scenes that were edited back into the film. Sadly,
the “unrated” material that was spliced
back into Drillbit Taylor simply to make it an extended
edition is unrecognizable amidst the already copious
amounts of commonplace comedy. Line-o-rama is nothing
more than funny lines strung together, and the gag reel
only has a couple of laugh-out-loud moments. The remaining
featurettes, including Rap Off, Bully, Sprinkler Day,
Directing Kids and The Real Don: Danny McBride give
short bits of insight into the young kids and their
characters, as well as the direction on the set when
dealing with kids – something Rogen is now famous
for. While these types of films entertainingly try to
capitalize on the success of Superbad, eventually it
will reach overkill, just like countless other genres
that have had to take a time out.
5/10
- Mike Massie
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