StrangeBy John DeSando, WCBE's It's Movie Time
Drillbit Taylor is as strange as its name. Owen Wilson plays a hired body guard for three central-casting dorky high school freshmen, who are harassed by two central-casting bullies. The strangeness does not come from the formulaic comedy that makes fun of both high-school types, which you can find from Ferris Bueller through Juno and Charlie Bartlett, and before and after those well-known films. It comes rather from the blend of Fight Club and slacker parody, not an easy dramatic alliance.
Besides stretching the limits of PG-13, in which excessive foul language seems inappropriate for 14 year olds, the film continually turns to violence to generate laughs, another difficult pairing. It's all in good fun, of course, and it does reflect the difficult adjustments the unpopular kids suffer in their four-year trek. Yet meanness prevails, least of which is Drillbit's (Owen Wilson) plan to plunder the homes of his charges, and most egregious is the shocking beating bad guy Filkins (Alex Frost) continually dishes out to the nerds.
As subtext, because Owen Wilson's suicide attempt may have followed this filming, I am impelled to comment that his performance lacks his trademark clueless man/boy attitude, usually charming and disarming. Here, playing it mostly straight, he seems uncomfortable, almost distracted. He could be both those for just being in a mediocre film, but I am intrigued with the possibility that this film might have represented a low-point in his career, thereby coloring his script and his performance.
The audience laughed at parts of the film, including the clich?d ending, but I'd like to think they are smarter than that. The nerds versus the toughs is a clich?; this audience might have seen the irony in the traditional high school cultural clashes, given itself to the conceits, and just enjoyed.
John DeSando teaches film at Franklin University and co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, which can be heard streaming at www.wcbe.org Fridays at 3:01 pm and 8:01 pm and on demand anytime. Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com