Posted on Fri, Mar. 21, 2008

Drillbit Taylor may be the latest comedy from the Knocked Up/Superbad gang of producer Judd Apatow and actor/co-writer Seth Rogen, but the film emits a subtle yet distinct John Hughes vibe.

The movie, which is genuinely funny in spots (but only in spots) centers on a pair of high school freshmen -- the skeletally skinny Wade (Nate Hartley) and the chubby Ryan (Troy Gentile) -- targeted for humiliating abuse by a bully (Alex Frost, who ironically played one of the Klebold-Harris stand-ins in the Columbine drama Elephant).

Drillbit Taylor often plays like Superbad-lite crossed with one of those '80s-era Hughes concoctions such as Weird Science or Sixteen Candles,where the patchwork plot (and the laughs) careened wildly in every which direction, without much attention paid to matters of logic or plausibility.

As it turns out, the long-MIA Hughes did indeed have a hand in Drillbit Taylor: He is credited with the original story under the pseudonym of Edmond Dantes. It's easy to pick out Hughes' contributions to this unwieldy comedy, which devotes way too much of its running time to the homeless vet (Owen Wilson) the kids hire as their personal bodyguard. The premise isn't exactly original (director Steven Brill even pays a clever homage to 1980's My Bodyguard, the movie he is blatantly ripping off). But it is universal enough to overcome whatever predictability is inherent in the formula, from which Drillbit Taylor never veers.

Wilson, essentially playing a variation here on the aimless charmer he portrayed in You, Me and Dupree,has a laconic charm that is better suited for supporting roles than leading ones: There's something about his perpetual state of dazed stupor that saps the energy out of a movie whenever he's asked to carry a scene. Drillbit Taylor becomes more than a little dull when it devotes its attention on Wilson's romance with a teacher (played by Knocked Up's Leslie Mann, Apatow's wife) or his antagonistic relationship with his gang of fellow street-dwellers, who are encouraging him to rip off the kids and run off with their money.

This leads to the kind of sentimental interludes that Apatow and Rogen have proven so adept at avoiding, until now. Drillbit Taylor is at its best when it sticks with its teenage protagonists, such as the finale, in which the geeks finally fend off their tormentor. It reminds you how effective Three Stooges-style slapsticky violence remains -- and how underused it is in contemporary comedies.

Cast: Owen Wilson, Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, David Dorfman, Alex Frost, Leslie Mann

Director: Steven Brill

Screenwriters: Kristofor Brown, Seth Rogen

Producers: Judd Apatow, Susan Arnold, Donna Roth

A Paramount Pictures release. Running time: 102 minutes. Vulgar language, mock violence, brief nudity, adult themes. Playing at area theaters.