Rama’s SCREEN

Despite the lack of on the target punch lines this movie does a lot of punches, literally, to keep you entertained. It mostly depends on slapstick or physical pain humor to cause some laughter here and there, not much, but what really bites the bait is the movie’s ability to engage the audiences and make them really want to see the underdogs win. Some may say it… could do better, but most would agree that in the end it deserves a certain amount of applause for successfully having that “Rocky” spirit in its own way.

Three freshmen high school kids find themselves bullied by the two meanest bullies in the school every single day. They can’t seem to escape the reign of terror and fail to become popular. They hire a bodyguard named Drillbit Taylor who claims to be the best at what he does. Little do they know that he and his posse got a plan of their own. But in time, Drillbit Taylor learns what it means to be someone that somebody else looks up to.

When I first saw the previews for this movie a while back, I had a feeling that it’d be better to wait this movie to come out on DVD and then watch it, but you see…. I grew up as one of those nerds and geeks terrorized by bullies and jackasses in school. So anytime movies like this come out, I’d check it out in a heartbeat.

Owen Wilson as a lead comedic actor has been doing a pretty good job so far. I mean.. I gotta give him props for always trying to improvise a scene and make it go. His actions and expressions may not be as hyper as Jim Carrey or Steve Carrell but it’s effective for this kind of movie. Owen’s a good sport, he often makes fun of his broken nose.

The three kids are the perfect cast for the story. They couldn’t have gotten better geeks to play the roles. I betcha the fat one from Nacho Libre is going get more comedy movie deals, the skinny one’s got some mad acting skills, and the short one… he’s just downright hilarious. He doesn’t have to do anything and he already looks funny.

Seth Rogen help wrote the screenplay with his friends. The result is not as laugh out loud funny as Superbad. I’m assuming maybe because Seth is so good at potty rated R jokes that when him and his friends try to deliver PG-13 movie, somewhere along the line, something is missing in the jokes.

But still, the movie is worth watching because people like you and me like to watch underdog triumphs over tyranny. Plus, the kid who plays the main bully in this movie. Somebody ought to give him award for one of the worst bullies in the history of cinema. He does a fine job of being menacing.
If you’d like to see a movie that you can cheer for and at the same time enjoying a story about friendship and loyalty with a mix of silliness from time to time, well then…DRILLBIT TAYLOR is reporting for duty!

* Place the cursor on the picture to check my grade for this film