Mr. Woodcock

Successful novelist Seann William Scott returns to his hometown to be honored for his career. His mother (Susan Sarandon) now dates the titled character (Billy Bob Thornton), Scott's former gym teacher who forever tormented and belittled him as a husky youth. Thus Scott must now break the two up and forever exorcise Thorton from his life and his past. Nickel and dime production of the simplest sort with admittedly bigger names than usual. Thornton's dead-pan, dead-eye approach is funny and effective to an extent. However, he lacks the material he had in similar ventures ("Bad Santa"). Sarandon seems like she is in the wrong movie all together and Scott still has that "American Pie" tendency to annoy rather than entertain the masses. Not bad for a chuckle and short enough to be painless, but it hardly makes a cinematic impression at all. 2.5 out of 5 stars.

Self-help guru who hated his gym teacher goes home to find his mom engaged to said teacher, stilted merriment tries to ensue. The idea is sound the execution isn't. Woodcock, Billy Bob Thorton's gym teacher character is much too one dimensional to really work since he has one expression the whole time. Sean William Scott as the self help guru tries too hard to be wacky and falls on his face. Actually the script just doesn't work since its so obvious where its going. There are laughs and smiles despite of the lack of it all hanging together, and one "Whoa" nervous "oh crap he really got hurt" laugh towards the end. Worth a look on a slow night on cable where you'll be more forgiving of the dull bits on the way to the good ones.

Mr. Woodcock is the sort of film that I usually dread going to see, a sort of Meet The Parents rip off in the same vein as recent pictures like Relative Strangers and Guess Who. To be fair this movie betters both of those considerably, mainly due to the talented cast at the directors reach. Seann William Scott is great for the first time since American Pie, in a much more subtle role. I expected many things after seeing this young man back in 1999 and The Dukes of Hazzard and American Wedding weren't among them, so to see him hit the comic notes perfectly again is quite refreshing. Thornton ever since heavy success with Bad Santa back in 2003 has been making a career of playing weirdos (usually mean ones) and as Woodcock he's a solid choice who digs up several strong laughs. Sarandon is a lot more cardboard and ultimately unmemorable in her role, you forget her character at times but I guess thats all the script wanted and shes a pretty good actress to snare for the part. The story is pretty strong and a really good idea for the most part, the whole idea should have nerds everywhere rejoicing and cringing in equal amounts. The comedy does feel slight when taken against the premise but at the same time it's never overly offensive or dumb. The script has ups and downs in terms of gags, but the overall feeling is pleasantly entertaining. I enjoyed this movie and probably would happily suggest you pick it up on DVD when it hits the Summer sales next year or indeed give it a rental on initial release.

Like last year's School for Scoundrels, Woodcock is yet another movie in which Billy Bob Thornton plays a violent dick (no pun intended) and fails to be anywhere near as funny as he should be, thanks to a sloppy, almost laugh-less script. To make matters worse, he's not the only comedian whose considerable talents are wasted on this predictable mess; Ethan Suplee and Seann William Scott, two of the funniest men alive, have nearly nothing to do with their characters. Speaking of predictability, here's a cliché for you: Seen the trailer? Then you've seen the movie. Just about every truly funny part was crammed into the commercials.

I love Bad Santa and all, but it has really done more harm than good seeing as another Thornton-acts-like-a-sociopath-and-gets-away-with-it "comedy" gets released every year. He is an amazing actor and totally wasted on these forgettable carbon copies. I'm not denying that I laughed a couple of times ('cause let's face it, Thornton abusing kids is funny by default) but in the end Woodcock is just a half-baked comedy-drama which is neither hilarious nor touching.

I was so excited to see Mr. Woodcock today, saw the matinée this morning and I have to say that Mr. Woodcock lived up to my expectations. It was a great comedy to watch and had a lot of fun laughs. I think the reason why I love this film so much is because I could totally relate to it, in junior high I was the fat kid and had the teacher who must have been the partner of Satan, he was evil. I've changed quite a bit since then, but I still think of that teacher every once in a while. So this was just such a good comedy for everyone who has had to deal with a gym teacher like Mr. Woodcock. The actors seemed to really enjoy themselves, it was cool seeing Sean William Scott out of his normal idiotic roles and into something where he just was a normal guy, he did good. Billy Bob Thorton couldn't have been a more perfect choice, he was terrific. Together they really made the story work and was actually believable.

John Farley is a very successful author of the book "Letting Go", a book on how to let go of a rough past and rebuild your life. He comes back home to surprise his mom and get a special award for his work, but he finds out his mom is dating someone he knows. Mr. Woodcock, the evil junior high gym teacher that made John's life a living hell; and it looks like Mr. Woodcock has not changed his ways when he starts to treat "Farley" the same way he did when he was a kid. But it looks like they have to get comfortable with each other since Mr. Woodcock is marrying John's mom.

The cast looked like they just had a great time. I know this story was extremely predictable, but it was all in good fun. I loved seeing John's character just loose it as the story continued. There were some really great laughs in the film, the scene that got me was definitely the pot hole scene, I'm not going to spoil it, but I guarantee you for sure that you'll get a huge laugh once you see it. Mr. Woodcock is a fun comedy that I recommend, Billy Bob is just an awesome Mr. Woodcock, he really made the movie into a blast.

7/10