Mr Woodcock Movie Review

MOVIE REVIEW: Mr Woodcock

09/12/07

Are you going to enjoy this movie? Rhetorical question moviegoer! The answer is yes. Especially if you feel that at some point in your childhood you were “abused” or severely humiliated by an educator, guardian figure, or any adult person for that matter. Please don’t confuse this with hard core, non-comical child abuse. This is more the typical Army drill sergeant style gym teacher treating his students like soldiers. And when it comes to drill sergeant gym teachers, Billy Bob Thornton as Mr. Woodcock is about as menacing, intimidating, and apathetic as they can get. Priscilla agrees and pointed out to me that Billy is really good at that kind of role, such as in Bad Santa (I haven’t seen that one yet). He truly steals the show in this one. This movie is more of an adult comedy (yes, I shed a tear or two of laughter) with a slight touch of drama and psychological themes. Sure, it is not unique, but it carries itself quite well and has pretty good talent to do so.

Long after getting past Mr. Woodcock’s gym class as an adolescent, John Farley (Seann William Scott) becomes a self help author with a breakout bestseller, Letting Go: Getting Past Your Past. When he hears that he is to be awarded one of his Nebraska hometown’s highest honors, the Corn Cob Key, for his achievement, he breaks away from his book tour to go back home. He arrives only to find that his mother is actually dating Woodcock to the point of engagement. Naturally, Woodcock pounces on John with a new wave of torture but this time John wants to fight back by showing the community and especially his mother just how bad a person he thinks Woodcock is. And the battle ensues.

Billy Bob Thornton has such a cynical wit and awesome line delivery that he totally nails this role. He is one of the most fearsome gym teachers ever seen on the big screen. It was a little strange seeing Seann William Scott playing such a subdued character. His characters are usually more crazy and aggressive. Not that he did a bad job with this role, he just seemed a little out of place. There were a couple of times that he sounded more like his classic character, Stiffler, which was comforting. But then again, his character needed to be a little wimpy to help make Woodcock that much more evil. Susan Sarandon plays John’s mother, Beverly, which is a “small” role for someone like Susan, but at least the filmmakers know that it would be done right, and it was. The occasional interjections by Amy Poehler as Maggie Hoffman, John’s publicist, are hilarious. Amy has this ability to spice up a movie with her supporting roles and this one is no exception. Another excellent casting job with this character as well as with all the others. Maggie can be best described with a single line from the movie: “[Asking the flight attendant] Could I get a real bottle please? I'm an alcoholic not a Barbie doll.”

Even though there is nothing really extraordinary about the storyline of this movie, the script breathed life into it. It’s as if the script was tailored to each performer. That, coupled with sharp delivery equals good performances and an entertaining movie. Props to the Writers, Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert. Not bad for some rookie writers. Not bad for rookie Director Craig Gillespie as well. He took us on a comical journey to explore psychological trauma-land and brought us back home safely to conclude that a lot of times childhood psychological trauma is just in our head . . . huh? That’s a rhetorical question, give me 10 laps!