Drillbit Taylor: The Bodyguard

Director: Steven Brill
Producers: Judd Apatow, Susan Arnold, and Donna Roth
Writen by: John Hughes, Kristofor Brown, and Seth Rogen

Starring: Owen Wilson(Drillbit Taylor), Nate Hartley(Wade), Troy Gentile(Ryan), David Dorfman(Emmit), Alex Frost(Filkins), Leslie Mann(Lisa) IMDb. Rated PG-13.

Wade and Ryan are are excited about the first day of high-school. Eager as can be they could not have waited to meet new friends as they were already strategizing on how to be popular. These plans were thwarted when Wade decides to intervene while Filkins (the school bully) was harassing a peculiar kid named Emmit. Wade's bravery granted Filkins a license to make high-school difficult for himself, Ryan and Emmit. Feeling beat-up, frightened, and frustrated, Wade, Emmit and Ryan decided to hire a body-guard as refuge from duress, and that body-guard was ultimately Drillbit Taylor.

The most pronounced performance in this film was provided by Alex Frost. He was absolutely convincing as a bully. From the facial expressions to the intimidating disposition, Frost delivered quite nicely. He did not seem to struggle in the role, and that made him appear quite believable. What was not so believable was that this 18 year old senior in high school lived an unsupervised life. While there was some effort by the film makers to justify that aspect of the characters life, as a young man is his late teens having a parental figure in his life could have kept the integrity of the bully role intact. Attributing parents to that character may not have affected his function in the film.

The texture of the film felt somewhat odd at times. There was something about some of the dialogue that felt rehearsed, for lack of a better term. The on-screen chemistry between Wade and Ryan was descent although hopefully the tall and chunky duo will not become the motif for, from nerd to popularity teen movies. We see this duo in Superbad, hopefully this great irreverent comedy has not created a monster.

The pace of the film was excellent. The acting was good but again some of the dialogue did feel rehearsed. I really enjoyed watching Owen Wilson perform in his usual laid back comedic style. This movie was very entertaining with the bulk of the comedy coming from the scenes where Filkins is bullying Wade and Ryan. They endure some much humiliation sorrow is induced, but laughter is still a priority. According to Movies.com , critics gave this film a C. The fans gave it a B, and I will give it a C+. Stay tuned, Movieporium.blogspot.com.