DVD Review: Drillbit Taylor Blu-Ray

Writer: John Hughes, Seth Rogan, Kristofor Brown
Director: Steven Brill
Cast: Nate Hartley, Troy Gentile, Ian Roberts, Owen Wilson, Lisa Ann Walter, Beth Littleford, Valerie Tian, David Dorfman, Alex Frost, Josh Peck, Danny R. McBride, Casey Boersma, Dylan Boersma
Rating: PG-13
Studio: Dreamworks & Paramount
Release Date: July 1, 2008

I like comedies that actually have interesting stories. Drillbit Taylor looked funny, but I wasn’t sure how interesting or particularly original the story was. Considering this was written by John Hughes, who has returned to the “high school” element he made so famous in movies I grew up with in the 1980s, I knew there had to be something redeemable about this movie and I was right. This isn’t as good as other comedies, but it isn’t horrible either. For a quiet, Saturday afternoon watching movies, Drillbit Taylor is perfect. Just don’t expect it to win awards through the Academy.

Originally, I didn’t know that John Hughes developed the idea for this film, which was also penned by Seth Rogan and Kristofor Brown. If anyone knows high school outcasts its Hughes, who made a living writing about them in the 1980s with such hits as The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Weird Science, Sixteen Candles and Pretty in Pink. I’m kind of sad they didn’t cast Anthony Michael Hall or Molly Ringwald in cameo roles, which would have been awesome, but c’est la vie. The movie is still enjoyable and you’ll get enough laughs to get you through this comedy.

Release Information:
Drillbit Taylor was developed from a story idea by John Hughes. The reclusive writer is credited with helping to develop the story for this movie, though it is unclear exactly how much say he had in the actual film and the writing of the screenplay. Drillbit Taylor arrived on over 3,000 North American movie screens on March 21, 2008. The film debuted in fourth place during its opening weekend netting over $14 million. Since then, it has made around $50 million worldwide.

Paramount has released multiple versions of Drillbit Taylor, as of July 1, 2008. There is a standard DVD (widescreen), an Unrated Extended Survival Edition, and the Extended Survival Edition in Blu-Ray. You can pick up a copy of this movie wherever you purchase DVDs. Drillbit Taylor (widescreen) is available on Amazon for $19.99 as is the Unrated Extended Survival Edition. The Blu-Ray, which is what the review is based on, can be purchased at Amazon for $27.95.

The Drillbit Taylor Plot
Drillbit Taylor revolves around a group of teenage misfits. The story starts with geeky, nerdy best friends, Wade (Nate Hartley) and Ryan (Troy Gentile) who are just entering high school. The first day of school they end up wearing the same t-shirt and it is too late for either of them to change with the bus showing up as Wade tries to run home and fix the problem. At school, Wade quickly makes a big mistake by attempting to stick up for a smaller, more pathetic student, Emmit (David Dorfman).

The bullies, high school seniors, Filkins (Alex Frost) and Ronnie (Josh Peck) take notice of the matching shirts and force the boys to wear the same outfit…literally. That’s when the constant harassment, nerd bashing and other abuse starts happening. Of course, no one will take their accusations seriously. Wade’s step-dad considers him a wuss. His mom thinks he’s imagining things (as does Ryan’s mom) even going so far as to invite the bully over to dinner since he’s been emancipated from his parents and is on his own. It’s pretty much the boys’ worst nightmare. So, they decide they have no other choice but to hire a bodyguard.

Drillbit (Owen Wilson) is a homeless beggar who showers nude on the beach and begs people for money every day on the expressway. He hangs out with a bunch of other beggars and thieves, who will do anything for money, even steal from kids. Drillbit has decided he will be going to Canada. He just needs $500 or so to get there. When the boys advertise their need for a bodyguard, Drillbit shows up. He’s willing to accept all they can afford to pay and he quickly begins training them in the art of defending themselves. It’s pretty clear that Drillbit doesn’t know what he’s talking about, but the boys don’t seem to realize this. They are so desperate for help they eat up his every word.

Drillbit basically rips the boys off, which is what beggars like him would do, but the boys really trust him. They listen to everything he says and even help him get into the school, where he teaches as a substitute. There, Drillbit falls for one of the teachers, Lisa (Leslie Mann). Of course, she lets him know that she usually only attracts losers and is so glad he isn’t one of them, further complicating another relationship in his life.

This movie has a message about knowing when to battle a bully and hold your ground and when you’re taking things too far. Some of the comedy is silly. Some of it is downright funny. The rest of it has moments of awkwardness. The film is going to appeal to pre-teens and younger teenagers, especially those who can relate to the plight of the main characters. This may not be as tight as some of John Hughes’ past teenage flicks, but it certainly was enough for me to keep watching without losing interest.

Where the movie struggles the most is pacing and the occasional bout of awkward dialogue. I blame the majority of the problems on the direction. There could have been more scenes cut and added as the director saw fit to make the movie less awkward and the script a bit tighter. Still, I didn’t find the problems influence my opinion of this movie too much. If you like comedy and Owen Wilson then you’ll definitely want to check this one out.

Storyline/Plot:
Replayability:
Acting:
Directing:

Audio/Visual:
The Drillbit Taylor Blu-Ray quality is actually very good. It’s one of the best Blu-Ray movies I’ve seen Paramount put out in recent months. The 1080p, 2.35:1 widescreen transfer has a brilliant array of colors. The blacks are sharp and deep while the color palette is vibrantly spectacular. There are no visible visual errors present on this DVD. This isn’t the best Blu-Ray I’ve ever seen, but for what it is it’s very good.

The audio for Drillbit Taylor is presented in English Dolby True HD 5.1. This is a dialogue and music driven soundtrack. The sounds for both come through clearly and smoothly. Once your volume is set there is no reason to adjust the volume. The volume won’t have to be too loud and everything comes through with ease. Not the most dynamic Blu-Ray track I’ve heard, but certainly not bad. There are two additional tracks, Dolby Digital 5.1 in French and in Spanish. The English track features closed captioning and subtitles are available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese.

Visual:
Audio:

Bonus Features:
Drillbit Taylor Blu-Ray is filled with bonus features. The first is a commentary, which is a fun commentary that has most of the content presented by Steven Brill and Kristofor Brown. The three main young characters, Troy Gentile, Nate Hartley, and David Dorfman make random appearances throughout the commentary to give their input on the film and the making of process. Despite instances of dead air, the kids are pretty funny and there is some fun trivia about the movie, as well as information on which parts of the movie have been extended.

From there, the bonuses include a featurette with the writers called “The Writers Get a Chance to Talk: Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen”. This is supposed to be somewhat humorous, but it is also informative. I thought Seth Rogen was especially quirky in this. There are a total of 19 deleted & extended scenes. Some of them were funny, but some of them were obviously left out for a reason. The Line-O-Rama bonus is a somewhat pointless though at times humorous play through with the actors quoting lines from the movie. This is followed by a decently funny Gag Reel.

There is an extended version of the movie on the Blu-Ray DVD. Also, there is a featurette that looks at Troy’s preparation and the crew’s preparation for the Rap Off scene. The featurette “Sprinkler Day” looks at what it took to film the sprinkler scene at the school. There is also a featurette called “Bully”, which looks at the main bully, Filkins and his sidekick Ronnie. The director, Steven Brill, puts in another appearance in the featurette, “Directing Kids”. Finally, there is a look at Don, one of the bums who is a friend of Drillbit. This feature was funny, but somewhat pointless and it is called “The Real Don: Danny McBride”.

Bonus Features:

Bottom Line:
Drillbit Taylor isn’t going to be for everyone. I feel the movie tried to pay homage to some of John Hughes’ earlier films that dealt with bullies and the misadventures of a group of nerds at high school. This is light comedy with a somewhat obscure message and the cast seemed to fit well together. Still, some minor problems like occasional moments of awkward dialogue and scattered pacing may turn some off from this Owen Wilson vehicle. Whether you like comedies or not, rent this one first just to make sure it’s the type of movie you expect to watch.

Overall Rating:

Technorati Tags: Drillbit Taylor, Blu-Ray, DVD Review, Owen Wilson, Dreamworks, Comedy, Bully, Paramount

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Written by Shayne - Visit Website
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I am the proud Papa of a son, Dylan Michael Keller. Other than spending time with my son, I have two main obsessions in life; video games & movies. Often, the two accompany time spent with Dylan. I've been married to Andrea for 13 years this December. One thing I've learned about married life is to always expect the unexpected. After nearly eleven years with just the three of us, and our Golden Retriever, Braeden, I've just found out I'm going to be a dad again. In my professional life, I'm a bit of a cyber geek. I enjoy D&D, writing stories, role-playing, computer games, working on websites, and just hanging out. I work for a computer firm doing computer-tech type work and that's all I can really say about my job. In my fantasy life, I escape to the world of film. I'm not ashamed to admit that I've seen The Return of the King at least 37 times. I signed up to review movies, and you can guarantee I'll do the job right. I hope you enjoy my reviews and always remember kids...Make Love, Not Warcraft.