Drillbit Taylor Review

Drillbit Taylor falls flat.
by Mikie

With Seth Rogan co-writing the film, and Judd Apatow getting a producer credit, one would think that Drillbit Taylor would be somewhat enjoyable. It almost is. Using a familiar formula, this story involves a tall-skinny kid, a fat-loud kid, and a smallish-uber-dork kid and how they deal with the start of their high school 'careers'. Only this time, instead of raunchy talk about girls and sex they're dealing with something every Hollywood high school has: the bully.



I found the movie somewhat enjoyable as it has its funny points, however they come too few and far-between and weren't able to keep me interested in the flick. The movie drags on for 100 minutes and continually slows down during its runtime. Once you figure out how it will conclude, which most could solve in the first 10 minutes, you'll want to speed to the end ASAP and head home.

Drillbit Taylor doesn't provide a new role for Owen Wilson as it feels quite a bit like a character we've seen before from the actor. Wilson’s character appears confused for most of the film, using nothing but lies and luck to get by. His performance really sags and he fails to carry any weight in the movie.



However, Drillbit Taylor does have its redeeming qualities. The scenes where Wilson and the kids are paired together is where the movie shines the most. The Mexican Judo, hold-back technique, and mind-over-pain training scenes all end with humorous results. The three kids who play the main targets of the bully do show some promise in future movies, especially Troy Gentile who plays the overweight kid. Drillbit Taylor does try its best to make you laugh, and there are a few good jokes found in the film.

One Sentence Review: The movie's tag-line is, "You get what you pay for" and I'm glad I watched the movie for free. | 6.1/10

A Second Opinion - larry_chimp_man: As much as I tried to enjoy the Steven Brill-directed Drillbit Taylor I couldn't buy into the poorly done cookie-cutter of a film. I found myself hating the majority of the film's characters the more I got to know them and Owen Wilson is garbage with one of his most disappointing performances. However, Leslie Mann is fun to watch as always. The film's plot points are obvious from the get-go but feel cheap and poorly executed when pulled off later in the flick. Drillbit Taylor is also severely lacking the funnies. The one or two laughs that escaped from my mouth while watching this flick were more out of pity than amusement. Avoid Drillbit Taylor at all costs. One of the worst of 2008 so far.

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