Movie Info

RATING:

PG-13 for crude sexual references throughout, strong bullying, language, drug references, and partial nudity.

GENRE:

Comedy

RELEASE:

Mar. 21, 2008

STARRING:

Owen Wilson, Alex Frost, Matt Gallini, Troy Gentile, Nate Hartley

DIRECTOR:

Steven Brill

DISTRIBUTOR:

Paramount Pictures

 

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MOVIE REVIEW

Movie Review: Drillbit Taylor

Movieguide Magazine

What's This?

CBN.com - Drillbit Taylor is a very funny comedy about three high school freshmen in Los Angeles hiring a cheap bodyguard to protect them from a mean, slightly psychotic older student. The comedy is spoiled by a lot of light obscenities coming from one of the children, some strong profanities and other crudities, and the fact that all authority figures, especially parents, step-parents, and the school principal are completely clueless, incompetent, and ineffectual, or worse.

Young Ryan and Wade are like the Laurel and Hardy of high school freshmen. Ryan is very chubby and Wade is super thin, but they are fast friends. Though somewhat nerdy, they can hardly wait to start their first day of high school.

Although they show up wearing the same goofy shirt, Wade attracts the attention of an Asian girl. When they witness a small boy being bullied by two older students, Wade decides to take a stand. The leader of the two bullies, Filkins, immediately turns his attentions to Wade and Ryan, making their life miserable.

Eventually, the boys decide to hire their own bodyguard, but the only cheap one answering their ad is Drillbit Taylor, a homeless thief played by Owen Wilson, who takes nude showers on the beach in Santa Monica. Drillbit, who used to be in the army, lies and claims to be skilled in martial arts and black-ops, but all he really wants to do is steal items from their houses while pretending to defend them. When, however, Filkins gives Wade a black eye, Drillbit decides to pretend to be a substitute teacher in the school to help Wade and Ryan. He discovers that all you need is to look clean, wear a suit, and hold a coffee cup to get accepted by the other teachers, including an attractive one named Lisa.

Drillbit's plan works pretty well until his homeless friends steal everything in Wade's house, and the other bully learns who Drillbit really is.

The basic story, characters and lead performances in Drillbit Taylor are funny and appealing, but they are laced with many mostly light obscenities, some strong profanities and the movie's poor role models in authority figures. Both Wade and Ryan's fathers have abandoned their mothers. Ryan even calls his absent father a dirty name in one scene. Also, Wade's stepfather turns out to be a former bully himself, but an unrepentant one. Finally, when the boys complain to the school principal and their mothers about Filkins the bully, they are easily fooled by the bully's phony innocence, despite what Wade and Ryan say.

The movie also has some light sexual content and at least one very crude sexual reference in the dialogue. Thus, although Drillbit redeems himself by the end and despite the movie's cuter aspects, its negative qualities deserve extreme caution from family moviegoers, especially the vulgar language and the lack of positive authority figures. Because the authority figures do nothing to stop the bully, the movie's premise may encourage more young people to take matters into their own hands when faced with a similar problem.

Address Comments To:
Sumner Redstone, Chairman/CEO
Viacom
Brad Grey, Chairman/CEO
Paramount Pictures
5555 Melrose Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038-3197
Phone: (323) 956-5000
Website: www.paramount.com

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