Mr. Woodcock (2007)

Pretty dag gone funny

This is a pretty decent flick, most of the funny parts were on the previews but it is a great story, and presented very well. July 10, 2008

Do a lap, you'll feel better

This movie had potential to be funny. I've always been a fan of Billy Bob, and I find that he plays a scumbag best. Here he wasn't as scummy as he could have been, because he is, after all, a teacher. He is a tough teacher, the relentless and perhaps the most humiliating of experiences - gym class. Everyone no matter how much of a weakling or muscle stud you may have been then or now, gym class was truly tramatic. Putting on those ugly outfits, not being able to do chin ups, being in front of the whole class to see you preform, etc. And the gym teacher is there to direct you in all your failures and tell you what a weakling you are. *shudder*

What could have been a great movie showcasing Billy Bob as a somewhat lovable scumbag flip flops into a sort of odd family comedy. Seann William Scott, famous from the American Pie movies as the equally lovable scumbag, Stiffler, has returned to his Nebraska home town to accept a corn cob award for his work as an inspirational writer. He has overcome all his hang ups and become a better person because of the power of positive thought. When he comes home to visit his mom, Susan Sarandon, he finds that his mom is not just dating but plans to marry Mr. Woodcock. In a horrible feeling of anger and fear, he is committed to stopping the wedding and breaking them up. What could have been some hilarious screwball comedy antics or plot falls apart into silly plot twists and turns, things that don't really apply to the story (the romance between Scott and the hometown girl), and some revelations by mom to her adult child that were long overdue.

Not too much is funny about this movie, but it had potential. July 8, 2008

A Deflated Basketball

Get ready for a deflated basketball.

Nothing can bring any bounce to the script in this "comedy," since the cast lacks the energy to try and make things work. But even they may have known what the final score was going to be without needing to play the game.

Starring Billy Bob Thornton, as the gym teacher who is every kid's nightmare, the plot has a twist that could have worked. The widowed mother (Susan Sarandon) is engaged to soon be married to the gym teacher, while her son, a former tormented student (Seann William Scott), who is a best-selling author of self-help books, does everything in his power to derail the couple.

But with oftentimes disturbing bits and an ending that is far from a slam-dunk, this romp through school days angst is an absolute air ball.



July 8, 2008

there's just no purpose

This is not the dumbest movie that I've ever seen. It is, however, the most useless. Nothing happens. It's not funny at all. The dumbest movie that I've seen is better than this b/c at least something happens. DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE! July 5, 2008

It's the Subtext, Stupid!

This is definitely a treasure film for a college seminar in post-modernist interpretations of trash, to be taught in Mitchell, Nebraska, the corn capital of America. The first level of unintendedly honest expression is that "self-righteousness trounces sensitivity" every time." Thus it's patent that Mr. Woodcock is a political movie, a depiction of the Republican party thumping the liberals, or perhaps even a fictive replay of Dick! Cheney running over poor feel-good John Edwards in their televised debate. But wait! Another seminar star has a more appealingly far-fetched interpretation of the movie, as a foreshortened depiction of Muslim-Christian conflict, and we're invited to guess who mirrors whom. Then there's a Minnesota farmboy in the seminar who says the film was all about self-evasion by a script-writer who never earned his dad's respect by punching the ornery cuss back. Everyone in the seminar squeals 'oh, how pre-post-modern of you' but hey, there's no final interpretation, and that's final!

Billy Bob Thornton's performance is the only thing worth watching in this universally disclaimed flop. He's the spitting image of a coach I had in high school. I felt such an urge to put a fist through his face that my plasma screen jiggled like jello for its life. But wouldn't you know, the odious mediocrity Woodcock (the name is not without seminar value) gets "exonerated" in the end, his bullying justified! while the big-city-liberal mama's boy shows backbone at last by fighting the coach.
Maybe it is an allegory of America vs the World after all. July 1, 2008

More reviews at Amazon.com ...