With a title like “Mr. Woodcock” one can assume there is not going to be much substance in this film.
Lacking the laugh-out-loud hilarities of a good comedy, “Mr. Woodcock” delivers blunt, rude and vulgar antics exploiting the adolescent teen male.
John Farley (Seann William Scott) is the successful writer of Letting it Go, an inspirational self-help book that has affected millions of people’s lives. Upon his success he has gone home to discover his worst nightmare, Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), the middle school gym teacher that brought hell upon generations of students, is marrying his mother (Susan Sarandon). Determined to stop the hormone driven bully, John will do anything to end the relationship.
Scott and Thornton are once again typecast in this comedy and are having a difficult time finding a film to break out of.
Thornton does what he does best-being a jackass-this time directed toward adolescents youth and the elderly.
Some redeeming qualities that spark a chuckle were his relentless brutal attacks aimed at demeaning the confidence of short, “fat kids,” and being able to fornicate with women to the point where they black out and speak Portuguese.
Scott, on the other hand, has to bow-down to the acting ability of Thornton. Not having much talent to begin with, Scott tries to be a goofy, loving, self-helping, guru but fails to shine. I guess being Stifler in the American Pie movies led him to his peak and now all that is left is a withering sack of dung waiting to be picked up and taken to the garbage.
But let’s not be too hasty, there are plenty of younger audiences that will enjoy this mindless rubbish. The lack of an ‘R’ rating opens up the audience range, letting the popularity of Scott blossom in some light.
Some nice faces that emerged in this horrid rendition of a comedy are Amy Poehler from SNL and Ethan Suplee from My Name is Earl. Even these two fail to overcome the lacking story line and dimwittedness of the characters.
The laughs are far and few between, but if you feel you need to kill some brain cells, by all means attend “Mr. Woodcock.”