2- Drillbit Taylor

I watched this on the second of January, and probably don't need to say a lot about the plot since it was reasonably popular and heavily advertised. Basically three nerds start high school and are being bullied pretty heavily. This leads them to decide to hire a body guard. They settle upon Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson) an ex-green beret who unbeknowst to them is currently homeless, mainly because he is the only body guard they can actually afford. I don't really want to let too much else out of the bag, but let's just say that zaniness ensues.

I avoided this movie at first due to pretty mediocre reviews. So I didn't watch it in theaters or even download it, but caught this on TV at my parent's house. Frankly I was pleasantly surprised by this. Sure it was formulaic, but it's based on an idea by John Hughes who played a pretty big part in developing the teen movie formula. There were a couple actors that if I had known they were in it then I probably would have seen it earlier. The first of those is Danny McBride (playing Drillbit's homeless friend) who kind of came out of nowhere in 2008 and was basically the funniest thing about Pineapple Express. The other actor was Josh Peck (as the bully's sidekick) who is apparently most well known for roles in Nickelodeon kid shows, but starred recently in the Wackness which was one of my favorite movies of 2008. Neither have substantial roles but they do the job well. 

Though it may be formulaic there was one pretty clever reference to the film Cape Fear which I quite enjoyed. While in the principal's office trying to rat on the bully which proves to fail miserably as the nerds' parents take pity on him for being a lonely emancipated minor, the music from Cape Fear (heard in the video below, trust me you've probably heard it if you've seen a Simpsons episode featuring Sideshow Bob) begins to play. This is an allusion to how in the original Robert Mitchum the ex-con harrassing the family of Gregory Peck manages to have Peck arrested for harrassing him.



So basically if you have a couple of hours to kill and feel like watching something light and funny then give Drillbit Taylor a watch. Just don't expect it to break any new ground.