Mr. Woodcock

Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, Susan Sarandon, Ethan Suplee, Amy Poehler

Written by: Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert

Directed by: Craig Gillespie

Distributor: New Line Cinema

Rated: PG-13

Most primary school teachers are never given the credit they fully deserve for the crucial and difficult work they do as educators, but let’s be honest – some bad eggs end up at the front of the classroom. In extreme cases, teaching attracts cruel, egomaniacal authoritarians who take pleasure in torturing students that question their position of power. These twisted souls get their dues in Mr. Woodcock — a comedic jab at the teachers everyone would rather forget about.

John Farley (Seann William Scott) is a best-selling self-help author who returns to his Midwestern hometown to receive an award, only to find out that his mother (Susan Sarandon) is dating Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thorton), the sadistic gym teacher who tormented Farley in his youth. When Mr. Woodcock proposes, Farley becomes determined to break them up at any cost.

A film with a plot like this ends up exactly the way you’d expect it to without picking up a whole lot of comedic momentum in the process. Scott never manages to do anything terribly interesting with his role. Sarandon is as pleasant as ever, but there aren’t any surprises from her here. Thornton is a tremendous comic talent who works well under strange conditions – the guy’s good, but nothing in Mr. Woodcock is inspired enough to fully capture his talent. There are a few fleeting moments of true comedy in this film –from Ethan Suplee, for instance, who plays one of Farley’s former classmates. Suplee has shown-up as the big, dumb guy with the patchy beard in a whole bunch of other movies (Evolution, Road Trip, Chasing Amy) which would be downright annoying by now were it not for the fact that he’s so likeable in that kind of role. Amy Poehler also has some really funny moments in the role of Farley’s harsh, alcoholic literary agent. She has some of the best lines in the film and she delivers them perfectly. Totaled up, however, these lines take up about a minute of the film. The film is almost an hour and a half long.

Although the cast has great potential, the problem with most of the film is that it exaggerates reality to the point that it is over the top, but not actually funny. Neither the script nor the direction go quite far enough for a laugh. VS