DVD
REVIEW: MR WOODCOCK
01/10/08
FILM REVIEW: Are you going to
enjoy this movie? Rhetorical question moviegoer! The answer
is yes. Especially if you feel that at some point in your
childhood you were “abused” or severely humiliated by an
educator, guardian figure, or any adult person for that
matter. Please don’t confuse this with hard core,
non-comical child abuse. This is more the typical Army drill
sergeant style gym teacher treating his students like
soldiers. And when it comes to drill sergeant gym teachers,
Billy Bob Thornton as Mr. Woodcock is about as menacing,
intimidating, and apathetic as they can get. Priscilla
agrees and pointed out to me that Billy is really good at
that kind of role, such as in Bad Santa (I haven’t seen that
one yet). He truly steals the show in this one. This movie
is more of an adult comedy (yes, I shed a tear or two of
laughter) with a slight touch of drama and psychological
themes. Sure, it is not unique, but it carries itself quite
well and has pretty good talent to do so.
Long after getting past Mr. Woodcock’s gym class as an
adolescent, John Farley (Seann William Scott) becomes a self
help author with a breakout bestseller, Letting Go: Getting
Past Your Past. When he hears that he is to be awarded one
of his Nebraska hometown’s highest honors, the Corn Cob Key,
for his achievement, he breaks away from his book tour to go
back home. He arrives only to find that his mother is
actually dating Woodcock to the point of engagement.
Naturally, Woodcock pounces on John with a new wave of
torture but this time John wants to fight back by showing
the community and especially his mother just how bad a
person he thinks Woodcock is. And the battle ensues.
Billy Bob Thornton has such a cynical wit and awesome line
delivery that he totally nails this role. He is one of the
most fearsome gym teachers ever seen on the big screen. It
was a little strange seeing Seann William Scott playing such
a subdued character. His characters are usually more crazy
and aggressive. Not that he did a bad job with this role, he
just seemed a little out of place. There were a couple of
times that he sounded more like his classic character,
Stiffler, which was comforting. But then again, his
character needed to be a little wimpy to help make Woodcock
that much more evil. Susan Sarandon plays John’s mother,
Beverly, which is a “small” role for someone like Susan, but
at least the filmmakers know that it would be done right,
and it was. The occasional interjections by Amy Poehler as
Maggie Hoffman, John’s publicist, are hilarious. Amy has
this ability to spice up a movie with her supporting roles
and this one is no exception. Another excellent casting job
with this character as well as with all the others. Maggie
can be best described with a single line from the movie:
“[Asking the flight attendant] Could I get a real bottle
please? I'm an alcoholic not a Barbie doll.”
Even though there is nothing really extraordinary about the
storyline of this movie, the script breathed life into it.
It’s as if the script was tailored to each performer. That,
coupled with sharp delivery equals good performances and an
entertaining movie. Props to the Writers, Michael Carnes and
Josh Gilbert. Not bad for some rookie writers. Not bad for
rookie Director Craig Gillespie as well. He took us on a
comical journey to explore psychological trauma-land and
brought us back home safely to conclude that a lot of times
childhood psychological trauma is just in our head . . .
huh? That’s a rhetorical question, give me 10 laps!
Film
Review By Cine Marcos
cinemarcos@smartcine.com
VIDEO:
Widescreen (2.35:1) Enhanced for 16x9 TVs
AUDIO:
Dolby
Digital 5.1 Surround - English
Stereo Surround - English
Subtitles - English, Spanish,
BONUS FEATURES:
Like it was expected the bonus features in this DVD are
almost worth less. A short "Making of" documentary, ten
deleted scenes and a featurette about PE class experiences.
None of these features are worth watching.
“Making-of” documentary
A
documentary about the film production. The cast and director
get to talk about the film and why they decided to make the
film
(15:31)
Deleted/ Alternate
scenes: A total of nine deleted scenes and one
extended scene. None of these scenes are worth
watching.(12:49)
P.E. “Trauma Tales”
featurette The cast , producers and an actual
PE teacher talk about their experiences in PE class(12:01)
Theatrical trailer
Special sneak peeks
Vince Vaughn's Wilde West Comedy Show, Be Kind
Rewind, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, Rush
Hour 3, Full of It, Gracie, The King of Kong
RATING BREAK DOWN:
| FILM REVIEW |
 |
|
VIDEO |
|
|
AUDIO |
|
| BONUS
FEATURES |
 |
People Movie Review
Mr Woodcock
|
Boo |
0 |
|
This was the slowest
movie I've ever seen!!! The 87 minutes
of the movie seem to drag on for about 3
hours! Basically, the kid hates Mr.
Woodcock and just keeps on having
nightmares about him for days and things
seem to only get worse... No wonder it
was only in theatres for a week and a
half!!! |
|
anonymous |
10 |
|
I agree with Boo. There
was basically no point to it. I was
forced to watch it with my sister. The
little brat always gets her way. *roll
eyes* I'm only giving it a 10 but i
think it deserves like a 1. I hated it. |
Submit Your Movie Review
MORE MOVIE REVIEWS
>>>
