“Drillbit Taylor”, an easy going teenaged comedy starring Owen Wilson, is about three high school rejects (nerds/geeks/dweebs etc.) that hire an amateur bodyguard (Wilson) to protect them from a psychotic school bully. The trio of anti social students soon realizes that Drillbit is in fact nothing more than a homeless veteran who has an itch to migrate north to British Columbia. All hell breaks loose as the three try not only to evade the bully, but combat the rigors of high school cultural barriers and misguided parents.
While “Drillbit Taylor” can be entertaining at times, it morphs from a movie with some potential into an abomination that would put Frankenstein to shame. At first we are misguided into believing the almost Disney-like setting this movie employs, until of course we are exposed to several butt cheeks and bits of unnecessary profanity. The problem with “Drillbit Taylor” is that it’s too raunchy for kids and too adolescent for adults. It’s not clean enough to fall in the Disney category and too passive to fall into the American Pie genre.
If it wasn’t for Owen Wilson, this movie would receive a failing grade. Wilson’s natural comedic magic lifts “Drillbit Taylor” up a notch and prevents it from falling into the ever growing Hollywood landfill. While casting was spot on with Owen Wilson in the lead role, they failed miserably with the rest of the cast. I found myself at one point actually cheering for the antagonists instead of the protagonists. The three nerdy amigos looked more like they were starting middle school as opposed to high school.
“Drillbit Taylor” can be a lot of fun at times, but falls flat on its face for the most part. The risk with movie hybrids like “Drillbit Taylor” is that instead of taking the best of both worlds you can end up taking the worst. Watch this movie for a half decent laugh, otherwise move along.
Ozzy Neav
De Novo Magazine
**Read more articles by Ozzy Neav**
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