Product Details

• Actors: Billy Bob Thornton
• Format: Widescreen
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001RV24PA
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #305,510 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

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14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars "You must like getting spanked Farley, I guess it runs in the family.", September 14, 2007

By 

Mike Zimmerman (Danville, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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After surviving the wrath of his take-no-prisoners gym teacher Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), John Farley (Seann William Scott) has grown from a fat nerd to a successful self-help book author. On his way home to accept a citizenship award at this year's Cornival, he finds out his mother Beverly (Susan Sarandon) is dating Woodcock for quite a while. With his forgotten past now back, he make whatever attempts he can to prove to his mother that Woodcock is no good for him.

You know, some less-than-successful comedies have at least some charm to make them at least get some worthy laughs. "Hot Rod", as silly as it was, benefited from Andy Samberg's determined performance that gave him a movie career once he breaks free from "Saturday Night Live"'s grasp. But when it comes to a film like "Mr. Woodcock", sometimes there isn't much hope. Adding insult to injury was the fact that it spent quite a while in hiding before being unleashed to unsuspecting moviegoers.

First off, there is a solid cast backed here: Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, Ethan Suplee, Amy Poehler, and Susan Sarandon. Honestly, a cast like this can bring any material to life. However, a cast like this needs a stable filmmaker to help guide them, and Craig Gillespie ("Lars and the Real Girl") is not the filmmaker for the job.

I must disgress that leads Thornton and Scott are very funny men, but unless the film is rated R or even funny, they can bomb right at the start. That's probably why Thornton's biting one-liners and drill sergeant delivery, which worked so well in "Bad Santa" and "Bad News Bears", feel like leftovers. Scott's an even bigger curiosity; is he trying to mimic his "Dude, Where's My Car" co-star Ashton Kutcher's move from a comic powerhouse to a nice guy in movies? Only co-stars Suplee and Poehler come off unscathed and deliver the film's source of laughs that the film so desperately desires.

The rest of the film is flat and been-there-done-that: crotch whallops, pratfalls involving senior citizens (not even Adam Sandler would dare use this as comedy), sexual innuendo (the banging-your-mom line is used ad nauseum), a love interest (Melissa Sagemiller) that doesn't fit in with the film, and even sentimentality. The latter one is a crushing blow. It's not as mind-numbingly grim as Adam Sandler's "Click", but once Farley tries to unmask Woodcock's supposed evildoings, Gillespie tries to paint sympathy that is hardly warranted in the first place.

It's a shame that Mr. Woodcock is such a lame film, because whenever Gillespie films scenes with Suplee or Poehler, it's where he's in a comfort zone, allowing these two fine comic actors ease pain that would've came had they not been in the film. Regardless, it's still not a funny film, and disappointing work from Scott, Thornton, and Sarandon. And to think David Dobkin ("Wedding Crashers") was involved; maybe his collaborations with Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn were flukes?

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The funniest movie of the 21st century . . . just kidding, January 19, 2008

By 

Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Mr. Woodcock (DVD)

The other day I watched "Good Luck Chuck" and gave it two stars, but now that I have seen "Mr. Woodcock" I feel like I should go back and give the other movie three stars so it will not be on the same rating plateau as this absymal film. I know, I know: I could accomplish the same goal by giving "Mr. Woodcock" one star, but I reserve one star ratings for films where I think the people who made it should be hunted down and done physical violence (and, yes, I have found a couple of those), and with this film I just want to ask the cast what the hell were they thinking when they agreed to make this 2006 "comedy." The one thing I can say in defense of this film is that if you are getting sick and tired of the raunchy comedies that having been dominating the cinematic landscape from "There's Something About Mary" to "Superbad" (you can usually tell them because they are inevitably released as "Unrated" editions on DVD), then rest assured that "Mr. Woodcock" fails to fall into that company.

The premise seems workable enough. John Farley (Seann William Scott) returns in triumph as a successful self-help author to his hometown in Nebraska only to discover that Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), the gymn teacher who tormented him unmercifully in school, is now dating his mom, Beverly (Susan Sarandon). To be clear, Beverly is John's mother and not Jasper's mother, although that twisted situation might have been an improvement. John and his old school chum Nedderman (Ethan Suplee) and everybody working at the local fast food restaurant know that Woodcock is a wretched human being, so Beverly has to be saved from a fate worse than death. The other main supporting players are Maggie Hoffman (Amy Poehler), John's pushy agent, and Tracy (Melissa Sagemiller), another one of John's former classmates who serves as a romantic prospect. She never really becomes more than that because this film is all about John trying to breakup his mother and Woodcock.

The best parts of the movie take place in gym class, where Mr. Woodcock throws basketballs at this students, demands pushups and laps for any and all infractions, and tries to drive home exactly what a "rhetorical question" happens to be. As far as sadistic gym teachers go, Mr. Woodcock is pretty much presented as just doing his job. If anything, he is so indifferent to the physical and mental punishments that he is dishing out that you really have to downgrade him from sadist to overgrown bully. There is a perverse pleasure to be gained in watching Woodcock abusing his students because you sit there and think that this guy is going to get his comeuppance. I am probably on the verge of a spoiler here, except that I can make the argument you cannot spoil something that is already rotten.

Director Craig Gillespie's film falls apart in the final act, where things come to a head and we are force fed what passes for a happy ending. There is a point where things turn "serious," and I just had to role my eyes because it was way too late to pretend that logical rules were supposed to be applied to these relationships. Thornton and Sarandon are way too good for this, and Scott is apparently trying to convince us that this is all he is good for as an actor (after "The Rundown: and "Bulletproof Monk" I would have predicted a better future than this for Scott). In the end, the movie this reminds me most of ended up being "Anger Management," which should make sense in retrospect. To be fair, this movie does have a totally appropriate punch line, which is delivered not once but twice as the last word in the film and in its end credits.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Mr. Woodcock, January 9, 2008

By 

Plato "Platojack" (Columbus, Ga. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mr. Woodcock (DVD)

I am so disappointed in this film. Thornton and Scott are in my opinion two of the most hilarious actors in the business today. I thought the movie had plenty potential but I can't remember laughing one time throughout. School of Scoundrels wasn't great but at least I remember a few funny scenes. I hope Billy Bob and Scott will team up again but hopefully in a better movie!