Movie Review for Mr. Woodcock (2007)

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Review #526 of 365
Movie Review of Mr. Woodcock (2007) [PG-13] 87 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $6.75
Where Viewed: United Artists Denver Pavilions Stadium 15, Denver, CO
When 1st Seen: 14 September 2007
Time: 3:05 pm
DVD Release Date: 15 January 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

Directed by: Craig Gillespie (debut)
Written by : Michael Carnes (debut) • Josh Gilbert (debut)

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Billy Bob Thornton (The Astronaut Farmer) • Seann William Scott (The Dukes of Hazzard) • Susan Sarandon (Irresistible) • Amy Poehler (Blades of Glory) • Melissa Sagemiller (The Guardian) • Ethan Suplee (The Fountain) • Jacob Davich (The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D)

Click for 'Review Lite' [a 150-word or less review of this film]
Click to read the spoiler points for Mr. Woodcock
If proof were ever needed to illustrate that big name celebrities in a film cannot assure its commercial success, Mr. Woodcock would prove the best example. Starring Billy Bob Thornton and Susan Sarandon, both Academy Award®-nominees, the film is tanks early when it becomes clear it has three repetitive jokes and no idea where to go with this smarmy story. The premise, as the trailer leaves no doubt is about a mentally and physically abusive gym teacher named Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton) who leaves his emotional scars on his students decades after they graduate from his class. One of his students, John Farley (Seann William Scott) grows up and writes a best-selling self-help book about letting go of your past.
"…isn't very funny and borders on the inane."
When his small town in Nebraska contacts his publicist to let her know they've decided to award him the Corn Cop Key to the City for the year's most notable resident, he asks her to cancel everything so he can go home. He knows how much it will mean to his mother, herself (Susan Sarandon) the 1970 Cornival Queen. What he cannot imagine when he makes this decision to surprise his mom, is that she's been dating Mr. Woodcock for the past six months. The look on his face when he finds out is 'Sean William Scott' priceless. Trying as much as possible to follow the rules of his own book, he strives to find a way of bridging their past only to discover that Mr. Woodcock hasn't changed a bit. He's still belittling his male students in middle school gym glass, ridiculing them, and forcing them to do laps or pushups any time he deems them out of line. The crazy thing is that some people actually have grown up to admire the guy, and the city council has voted him educator of the year. John cannot stand the fact that this ruthless and mean-spirited teacher would be honored, but worse, he's repulsed by the thought of him dating his mother. Things only get worse when his obvious opposition to the relationship induces Mr. Woodcock to pop the question setting himself up to be John's new stepfather.

Unfortunately, the film's plot lacks freshness, and each of these actors has played these characters or variations of them before. Seann William Scott, actually, seems to have grown up a great deal in his acting, however, the roles for Ms Sarandon and Mr. Thornton could have been played, with no disrespect intended, by Alan Thicke and Suzanne Somers without much loss. People in the heartland, especially Nebraska and Kansas, are probably tired of being depicted in movies as small town rubes preoccupied with corn-eating contests and the ultimate honor: getting a pizza or sandwich named after you at the local pizzeria. Just about every funny part in the film is also in the trailer, unless you survive on the mean-spirited classroom antics of Mr. Woodcock and the way he abuses his student, in which case there are five or more new scenes to keep you 'entertained'. Despite the fact that nearly everyone involved with the film should probably be relatively embarrassed to be associated with this film, the turn-about ending finally undermines what ever redeeming value it might have had left.

The character, Mr. Woodcock, is nothing more than a grown up bully, who has convinced his twisted mind that bullying kids toughens them up and helps them grow up ready to handle anything. Mr. Woodcock the film not only condones his behavior but eventually warms to it as if that's some grand twist, "Imagine if people really liked getting bullied and abused? What if teachers that do this are right in that they are building character?" Professionally speaking, there are few places left in the USA where Mr. Woodcock's actions in the classroom wouldn't warrant an immediate dismissal. Regardless, suspension of disbelief and all that jazz, the film isn't very funny and borders on the inane. With Amy Poehler as John's lush of a publicist screaming at flight attendants to bring her bigger bottles of alcohol because she's "…an alcoholic not a Barbie® doll", the film seems to know no boundaries between good and bad taste either. For all the hype this film has gotten and the talent on screen, one would have expected a far, far better film. Hopefully, the reason for this is that newbie director, Craig Gillespie, used all his best energy and talent directing Lars and the Real Girl and all of his best stuff went into that movie. Basing things only on the trailers, Lars and the Real Girl starring Ryan Gosling looks like it might be the 'Real Deal'.

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Cast Members
Billy Bob Thornton • Seann William Scott • Susan Sarandon
Amy Poehler • Melissa Sagemiller • Ethan Suplee
Jacob Davich
Director
Craig Gillespie
Writers
Michael Carnes • Josh Gilbert
DVD
VHS

Review-lite Mr. Woodcock (2007) [max of 150 words]
Despite the talents of Academy Award® nominees Susan Sarandon and Billy Bob Thornton, Mr. Woodcock, is about as funny as the juvenile jokes the title is certain to inspire. Seann William Scott actually shines, but he's swimming upstream against a script that stinks, characters that could have been played by robots, and a moral and ethical mismatch that causes this film to tank just as soon as you realize that you've already seen all the funny parts in the trailer.
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