Drillbit Taylor

Review By: Brian DePasquale
BrianDePasquale @TheCinemaSource.com

Drillbit Taylor is the first project from Team Apatow that feels too much like formula. Yes, the brilliant movies of the past few years (The 40 Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) have all been well within the confines of their genre, but this latest Owen Wilson vehicle packs little punch and lacks any true heart. The casting and the structure of the story are taken straight from one film (Superbad) and inserted to a train with no steam. Is the well getting dry? Or is this dud just a misstep?

In their defense, screenwriters Seth Rogen and Kristofor Brown admit that the studio tampered with the script. Apparently, the writers wanted a first act with Wilson completely absent, void of the title character for the first 30 minutes. Insiders will tell you this is a big no-no in Hollywood. Thus, the two were forced to go back and rewrite the first pages of a script they were happy with and return with something different. As explained in an interview, Rogen and Brown thought the first act felt a bit disjointed.

Sadly, this sort of thing happens all the time in the biz. Sidney Lumet reports in his invaluable book Making Movies, “I come from the theater. There, the writer’s word is sacred. Carrying out the writer’s intention is the primary objective of the entire production.” This is not the case for some executives in Hollywood who see new ideas as a risk and the writer’s word as a liability.

The first act of Drillbit Taylor is not so much disjointed as it is unoriginal. The first 30 pages or so of the movie are shamefully constructed in paint-by-numbers fashion. They set-up a film that never really gets going despite a few spotty laughs scattered here and there.

Problems in the script are not aided by a lack of ingenuity in the casting process. The three teenagers in the film are so obviously modeled after the three kids from Superbad that it is often painful to watch. One child has to walk, talk, and act exactly like Seth Rogen (See Jonah Hill). His best friend needs to be tall, lanky, and awkward (Michael Cera does it best). They both have an annoying super-nerd who follows them around, who they do not consider their friend but keep around for laughs and pity (He is no McLovin). Part of making good ideas last a while is to hide the formula behind the magic. Drillbit Taylor wears it on its ragged army clad sleeves.

The film follows these three self-proclaimed nerds into their first days of high school. Here, they fall into the wrath of two hideous bullies who live off of the day-by-day screams of their victims. These guys are true professionals too.