Film Reviews

Drillbit Taylor

• Rating:
• Director: Steven Brill
• Starring: David Dorfman
• Details: US / 102mins (12A).

I've been a fan of Owen Wilson's half-assed approach to comedy, his character-based humour and his ability to throw away a punchline instead of waving a flag and shouting, "Hey, this is the joke right here. No, over here." However, it's hard to deny that Owen Wilson plays Owen Wilson in every movie he's in, regardless of character or plot. Wilson does Wilson again in Drillbit Taylor and is woefully miscast (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson would have done a better job since he flexed his comedic muscles in Be Cool and Southland Tales) as the homeless titular hero who, when approached by three nerds looking for protection from a bully, becomes a high school bodyguard. His real plan is to take the kids for everything they've got, but then he gets attached to the needy teens. Because this is written by Seth Rogan and produced by Judd Apatow, I've a theory that the Drillbit Taylor script was gathering dust under a bed for years before they broke with 40-Year-Old Virgin and Superbad. You can almost hear the Hollywood moguls saying, 'You guys have hit big... what else you got?' Drillbit was subsequently dusted down, polished a little, handed over and rushed into production to top up and cash in on their recent success. Why do I think this? Well, the movie is far too long for what it is, the multiple nods to other movies (Ferris Bueller, The Untouchables, Fight Club, Cape Fear - a rookie mistake) and the fact that Drillbit Taylor is a little tired and just isn't that funny. It doesn't come close to 40-Year-Old Virgin, Superbad or Knocked Up and there's no way these guys can run out of steam that quickly. The lack of jokes isn't helped by the lack of focus - Drillbit Taylor is all over the shop (probably looking for a decent gag) and director Brill can't decide whose story this actually is: Wilson's or the boys'?

Review by Gavin Burke