Mr. Woodcock

Reviewed by:
Pete Hammond

A young, successful self-help book author (Seann William Scott) returns home to find his mother (Susan Sarandon) engaged to the high school coach from hell (Billy Bob Thornton) who made his life miserable back in the day. Since everyone probably has a similar teacher or coach who makes them tremble with fear just hearing the name, this amusing premise for a goofy comedy should strike a chord. Unfortunately, it could have been a lot smarter than just setting up a contest between Scott and Thornton as they fight over whether the marriage should ever happen. There are some funny bits, but you only end up wishing the film had a few more gems like this and not a lot of dumb dialogue trying to stretch the one-joke concept into a feature-length comedy. In fact, the film's poster showing Woodcock holding two strategically placed basketballs is funnier than anything in the actual movie! American Pie's Stifler is just okay here; and Sarandon isn't given much to do. So it's Thornton who must carry the load, and he's right at home playing this kind of devil in white socks and Nikes. He's a lot of fun to watch (especially in flashback scenes detailing his torturous practices), delivering his lines with panache the script doesn't deserve. Even though Billy Bob's been down this road a lot before in films like Bad Santa and Bad News Bears, he's still the key reason to see this not Bad film. But sadly, it's not too good either.