You’re likely to cheer at least inwardly for the nerdy young heroes of Drillbit Taylor if you’ve ever felt awkward in school, or unsure if you’ll be in the “it” or out crowd, or had your feelings run roughshod over by a bully.

The Plot

Wade (Nate Hartley), a curly-haired bespectacled twig of a boy, and Ryan (Troy Gentile ), Wade’s fat rap-loving friend, were in trepidation over the first day of high school, knowing that a wrong move will doom their entire high school life. As you can expect, anything that can go wrong will go wrong, which means that both turned up to wait for the school bus in identical shirts. Then, while trying to help a boy targeted by the bullies, Wade drew their attention to himself.

These 2 mistakes make them prime targets for bullying, and in dire desperation, they chip in to hire some protection for themselves against the harrassment, which takes the form of a bodyguard, Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson). The only trouble is, unknown to them, instead of being a guard, Taylor is a homeless bum who sleeps in the wild, uses the open air public showers on the beach as his own, and eats from a dumpster. They should have suspected something when he was cheaper than everyone else, but beggars can’t be choosers.

Drillbit picks up the assignment fully intending to use the kids’ money to escape to a new life in Canada. However, he doesn’t count on getting closer to the boys, and starts to feel guilty about his lies. When his fraud is finally exposed, he turns noble and decides that he wants to protect the kids after all. Unsurprisingly, he appears at the critical moment during the confrontation between Wade, Ryan and their nemesis – Filkins, and saves the day.

It’s a predictable, overused plot, but none of the audience will have it any other way. It may be a comedy but the audience expected Drillbit to ultimately save the day even if he was a total loser, because at the end of the day they still want to see the underdog triumph.

The Acting

With such clichéd plot, the actors are necessarily the movie’s saving grace. Hartley and Gentile, while not as well-known as Owen Wilson, are amazingly credible in their roles as Wade and Ryan. Their frustration and fear of being bullied is so sincere and realistic that even Wilson, who rose to fame in Shanghai Knights, paled in comparison.

Alex Frost as bully Filkins, was also competent in his portrayal. The sadistic delight and cruelty of Filkins when he was hunting down his victims were eerily genuine on his face; so much so that even the lines of Frost’s face seemed to grow harsher whenever his character displayed any form of extreme emotion. But what made Frost’s performance memorable was the two-faced aspect of his role. Frost’s change from repentance in front of authority figures to demonic cruelty in front of his victims is both startling and entertaining.

The Social Issue

Despite the movie being a light-hearted comedy, it was also frighteningly accurate in portraying a common scenario we see often in real life when adults in the movie never seemed to listen to the children’s cry for help and deliverance.

When the issue of bullying was brought up to the principal of the high school, not only was the confidentiality clause not kept, but the claim about being bullied made by Wade and Ryan was dismissed as simply nonsense. It wasn’t just a lack of common sense, which incidentally was lacking severely in the movie as well, but also a shocking lack of sensitivity and concern.

What was depressing was that the movie seemed to have drawn inspiration from what the youths of today complain as the disgusting high-handedness and selfishness of adults who can’t be bothered to understand.

The Verdict

Drillbit Taylor is funny, without a doubt, it is the type of movie that entertains people even while they are feeling slightly guilty for liking something so silly. But you will hardly notice the braincells seeping rapidly out from between your ears because you may be too busy cringing at the desperate way Wade tried to convince himself that he had some meat on him or the repulsive situation Drillbit’s pinky got itself into – It got cut off by Filkins’ Samurai sword, ran over by a police car and then drowned in a cocktail.

Don’t even think of bringing food and drinks into the cinema, or even turning up for this show if you’re looking for a movie with depth and substance.

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

Movie Details

Opens: 15 May 2008

Movie Rating: PG-13

Running Time: 102 mins

Language: English

Director: Steven Brill

Cast: Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, Owen Wilson