Camden New Journal - Movies: Drillbit Taylor

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 27 March 2008

Wilson can beat a bit of a bully

DRILLBIT TAYLOR
Directed by Stephen Brill
Certificate 12a

NO mistaking the signs, the kids all look like born losers.
Wade (newcomer Nate Hartley, remember the name: he’s a real find) is tall, skinny and bespectacled. Ryan (Troy Gentile) is a chubby little fellow who can’t do anything right. Emmit (David Dorfman) is a freakish under-sized specimen with braces on his teeth and a voice like fingernails being scratched down a blackboard.
On their first day at high school they fall foul of the local bully Filkins – a genuinely terrifying portrayal from Alex Frost, another name to note for future reference. Here I must say I found the bullying rather too vicious for my tastes – the hoodie-wearing psycho should be behind bars rather than behind a desk.
But it all adds to the tension that builds to breaking point until the hapless trio decide to hire a bodyguard – and that’s when Drillbit (Owen Wilson) enters the fray.
He’s an army deserter who plans to gain the boys’ trust before robbing their homes. But he can’t help feeling sympathy for them, and finally blags his way into the school as a substitute teacher to keep an eye on them.
Wilson delivers his best comedy performance since the hilarious Wedding Crashers, which, oddly enough, contains many of the same ingredients: macho males, impersonations, over-sexed women and a born loser – in this case four of them – making good.
As the rough diamond drifter living off his wits he handles the role with enough appeal to charm the birds off the trees – the bird being a sassy English teacher (Leslie Mann) who can’t wait for after-hours biology lessons with the new tutor in class.
Full of knockabout slapstick and laugh-out-loud moments that creep up and bite you in the rear when you’re least expecting them, here’s one for all the family to enjoy.

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