Mr. Woodcock

Self-help guru who hated his gym teacher goes home to find his mom engaged to said teacher, stilted merriment tries to ensue. The idea is sound the execution isn't. Woodcock, Billy Bob Thorton's gym teacher character is much too one dimensional to really work since he has one expression the whole time. Sean William Scott as the self help guru tries too hard to be wacky and falls on his face. Actually the script just doesn't work since its so obvious where its going. There are laughs and smiles despite of the lack of it all hanging together, and one "Whoa" nervous "oh crap he really got hurt" laugh towards the end. Worth a look on a slow night on cable where you'll be more forgiving of the dull bits on the way to the good ones.

Susan Sarandon looked fine, in fact great for her character. I thought the movie was funny and just plain entertaining.

I liked the broad humor as well as the occasional slapstick bit. In addition, there was some social/philosophical commentary that went well with the light tone of the movie.

Although the 'Cornival' was a bit corny, that was the point. John, Mr. Woodcock's nemesis, was searching for a connection with his roots and eventually realized that he was more disconnected than he thought, having to change his general outlook and his relationships with the people he most cared about.

Mr. Woodcock is the sort of film that I usually dread going to see, a sort of Meet The Parents rip off in the same vein as recent pictures like Relative Strangers and Guess Who. To be fair this movie betters both of those considerably, mainly due to the talented cast at the directors reach. Seann William Scott is great for the first time since American Pie, in a much more subtle role. I expected many things after seeing this young man back in 1999 and The Dukes of Hazzard and American Wedding weren't among them, so to see him hit the comic notes perfectly again is quite refreshing. Thornton ever since heavy success with Bad Santa back in 2003 has been making a career of playing weirdos (usually mean ones) and as Woodcock he's a solid choice who digs up several strong laughs. Sarandon is a lot more cardboard and ultimately unmemorable in her role, you forget her character at times but I guess thats all the script wanted and shes a pretty good actress to snare for the part. The story is pretty strong and a really good idea for the most part, the whole idea should have nerds everywhere rejoicing and cringing in equal amounts. The comedy does feel slight when taken against the premise but at the same time it's never overly offensive or dumb. The script has ups and downs in terms of gags, but the overall feeling is pleasantly entertaining. I enjoyed this movie and probably would happily suggest you pick it up on DVD when it hits the Summer sales next year or indeed give it a rental on initial release.

"Mr. Woodcock" is one of those movies that sounds great on paper, but which loses something on its way to the big screen.

Jasper Woodcock is a sadistic high school PE teacher who, through the course of his career, has made life a veritable hell for most of the boys enrolled in his class. One of his students, an overweight kid by the name of John Farley, grows up to write a best-selling self-help book about letting go of one's past as a means of embracing one's future. When John returns to his small town Nebraska home for a visit, he's mortified to discover that this very same Mr. Woodcock has become his widowed mother's new boyfriend. Farley spends the rest of the movie doing everything he can think of to sabotage the romance, systematically violating all the precepts in the book that has made him so famous.

With few exceptions, "Mr. Woodcock" fails to exploit the black comedy potential of its material, settling for homogenized, crowd-pleasing pablum instead. That's not to say that there aren't some occasionally amusing moments in the film, only that they are too few and far between to turn the film into anything more than, at best, an average Hollywood comedy. Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon and Seann William Scott (Stifler in the "American Pie" movies) have all proved their talent and likability many times in the past, but they aren't allowed to go much beyond one-note performances in this film. However, it's nice to see veteran character actor Bill Macy ("Maude") again, very funny in his one scene as Woodcock's obnoxiously overbearing father.

I was pretty excited to see this movie because from what I saw it seemed really funny and I like Seann William Scott but I have to say I was sort of disappointed. Granted I went in expecting a funny stupid comedy but, it really wasn't all that funny. It seemed to me like they put all the funny scenes into the trailers and the rest of the movie was just filler. It's like they tried to be a really hilarious comedy but then towards the end they tried to take an emotional turn and by then I was pretty disappointed by the lack of hilarity that I didn't care anymore. And don't get me wrong, I did laugh, but I laughed at all the parts I had already seen in the trailers.

All in all, this movie wasn't a total failure, but I wouldn't bother watching it again.