Mr. Woodcock (2007)

Mr. Woodcock (link to Amazon)
Directed by: Craig Gillespie
Viewed on: 07-17-08

Newly published author John Farley (Seann William Scott ) returns home to a small Nebraska farming town and learns of his Mother's (Susan Sarandon) recent engagement to his former high school gym teacher Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton). Farley's distain for the old coach comes from years of high school gym class torment and ridicule, which are often shown in flashback scenes throughout the movie. This flick actually had a lot of potential, Billy Bob Thornton played the hard-nosed and condescending gym tyrant to a tee, coupled with Sarandon the two had award-winning chemistry. The major downfall of this movie was the lack of acting from Sean William Scott and the overuse of his role in the movie (shouldn't Sarandon and Thornton be the focus or at least be in more scenes?). As Scott attempts an intellectual character, his portrayal of a self-help motivational author fell way short. His acting inadequacies made it hard for us to relate to the character and ultimately the movie itself. The towns folk his age were worthless too. Unfortunately he may be forever pigeonholed into the "Stiffler" character from the American Pie movies. The gym flashback scenes were amusing, also Amy Poehler's bit character was pretty funny. And although Susan Sarandon has a little more junk in her trunk now, somehow it was still aesthetically pleasing on her. But overall the script was weak and predictable. This movie could have easily fell into the F-grade range. It was the perfect example of a Hollywood movie where the main actor is chosen because of "who's hot" rather than who's the best actor for the part. "Stick him with some pros and we can't lose."

We gave this movie a C+ and would recommend that you spend no money on it whatsoever. Maybe catch it when it comes out on a cable network, if nothing else is on.