Product Description

As a chubby 7th grader, John Farley (Seann William Scott) and his friends were helpless against the most evil man on the planet - their P.E. teacher Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton). Flash forward years later - John, now successful, thin and able to do a pull-up, returns to his hometown only to discover that Mr. Woodcock is still in his life ...and dating his mum (Susan Sarandon)! John vows to do whatever it takes to stop their relationship, but Woodcock has plans of his own - and they don't include losing. It's a face-off of outrageous proportions in this no-holds barred comedy directed by Aussie-born Craig Gillespie (Lars and the Real Girl) and co-starring Amy Poehler (Blades of Glory) and Ethan Suplee (My Name is Earl).

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16648 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2008-01-15
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 88 minutes

Amazon.com
Rhetorical question: What’s the only thing that can keep a potentially bad movie’s head above water? Good actors, or course. Sure, the Dodgeball-esque scenes of Billy Bob Thornton viciously pegging second-graders with a basketball are chuckle-inducing (It appeals to the America’s Funniest Home Videos lover in all of us), but the movie didn’t quite live up to the promising plot. John Farley (Seann William Scott) plays a bestselling self-help author who was once a portly underachiever often bullied and terrorized by his militant (and potentially lawsuit-causing) gym teacher, Mr. Woodcock (Thornton). When he’s invited to receive his Nebraska hometown’s most coveted award, the corn cob key, he decides to pay his mother (Susan Sarandon) a visit. With horror, he discovers that she’s planning on getting married to the sinister Mr. Woodcock. And, of course, the rest of the movie shows John’s unraveling as he tries with all his might (and "corny" predictability) to stop that from happening. The movie provides some good laughs, but it’s definitely on the B-list for the likes of these hilarious starring actors. --Jordan Thompson

Customer Reviews

Not horrible, but not great either...
A few laughs are sprinkled in here and there, but at best this is a 2.5 star effort, if that.

Billy Bob Thornton seems to be continuing the role that he played in School for Scoundrels. Seann William Scott plays the picked on school kid (John Farley) that suffered at the hands of the sadistic gym teacher played by Billy Bob Thornton. Susan Sarandon is the mother of Seann William Scott who just happens to be dating Thornton's Mr. Woodcock, which leaves Farley wondering just why his mother can't see how horrible Woodcock really is. (My wife noted that the Seann William Scott role here is similar to that played by Richard Dreyfus in What About Bob?)

At 87 minutes running time, at least the movie ends fairly quickly. If you like Billy Bob Thornton, you may enjoy this movie more than others. Same for the Seann William Scott fans out there (I assume there are a few). Outside of that, consider finding your entertainment value elsewhere.

I'm glad my PS3 didn't spit out the disc, but then again it would be nice if Blu-ray was used for something better.

The funniest movie of the 21st century . . . just kidding
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.

Best Comedy of 2007
I was a little surprised when I saw that not too many people enjoyed this movie. From all the comedies that have been coming out the past few years, Mr. Woodcock has got to be the best yet. Why? It's not predictable and is truly hilarious throughout. So, don't listen to these other people, rent it, or even buy it. In my opinion, it was one of the best/funniest movies of 2007!