Review of Drillbit Taylor on DVD

Underdogs Rule in This Mild Judd Apatow Comedy Starring Owen Wilson

Jul 27, 2008

Three nerdy high school freshmen hire a homeless U.S. Army veteran as their low-budget bodyguard from the local bully.

In this Judd Apatow production (co-produced with Susan Arnold and Donna Arkoff Roth), Owen Wilson stars as Drillbit Taylor, a homeless California con man hoping to raise enough cash to run off to Canada. Luckily for him, three misfits from the local high school, skinny Wade (Nate Hartley), fat Ryan (Troy Gentile), and tiny Hobbit-like Emmit (David Dorfman) attract the attention of the school bully (Alex Frost) and his follower friend (Josh Peck).

Owen Wilson Charms as Drillbit

After an amusing series of interviews with various colorful characters who respond to their Internet ad for a bodyguard, the boys select Drillbit because he’s the only applicant they can afford. Despite the fact that he showers naked on the public beach, bums money from passing cars, and eats table scraps off restaurant tables, Drillbit has an easy charm that wins over the boys and helps him ease his way into the teacher’s lounge at the high school. Soon he’s a substitute teacher there, posing as a Ph.D., protecting his boys, hassling the bullies, and romancing another teacher (Leslie Mann) who rightfully claims that she’s a magnet for losers.

Co-written by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen, Drillbit Taylor plays like a pre-pubescent Superbad, in which three equally nerdy high school seniors try to acquire liquor for a party. Although the stories themselves have little in common, the characters and their underdog antics carry on the newly formed Apatow tradition. The raunch factor has been toned down somewhat for the PG-13 rating, although crude references to the developing male body abound. There’s nothing serious here, or even seriously funny; it’s a full-of-holes riff on the 1980 film My Bodyguard that includes winning performances from an eclectic cast (including Adam Baldwin from My Bodyguard) and a slew of funny one-liners.

DVD Bonus Features

In addition to commentary by director Steven Brill, co-writer Brown, and the three young stars, the bonus features include a recorded telephone conversation between screenwriters Brown and Rogen accompanied by still production photographs from the making of Drillbit Taylor. The conversation goes on a few minutes longer than necessary, but is entertaining nonetheless. Thirteen deleted and extended scenes provide more laughs, some of which are so good they probably should have stayed in the film. The Line-O-Rama (a standard Apatow Productions DVD extra) includes different versions of lines within a scene and some extra lines just thrown in for fun. The bonus features also include a gag reel, which is really just padding, but worth watching anyway.

The copyright of the article Review of Drillbit Taylor on DVD in Comic Films is owned by Leslie C. Halpern. Permission to republish Review of Drillbit Taylor on DVD in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.