Steve Pulaski
There are two kinds of films that can be made from the concept of a brutal, cut-throat gym teacher's impact on several underweight, feeble children. One film could look at the issue from the self-esteem side, painting a picture of an unfairly underestimated child who was manipulated in school and grew up to be a sad, neurotic adult. Then there's one that could do nothing but point fingers and make a mockery out of the entire material, with few laughs to be and boast nothing but a handful of unutilized talent.Take a guess which one of the above categories Mr. Woodcock falls into. Without wasting your time, the film is a lame comedy predicated off of the traditionalist slapstick, bargain-bin humor such as weight, sex, and weakness, all of which I've seen exercised in a much funnier manner before. However, Mr. Woodcock's screenplay feels as if it was devised by a group of teenage boys who knew no world outside of comic books, Playboys, sugary junk food, and Saturday morning cartoons.The story concerns John Farley (Seann William Scott), a once overweight child that grew up to be a very successful self-help author. Farley's ideology emphasizes the method of "letting go" of the negatives in your past in order to have a more fulfilled, more realized future (if this is the best contemporary self-help authors can come up with and still make millions, I see no hope for their audience, but I digress). Farley, however, has always been traumatized by his middle school gym teacher Mr. Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), who acts just like Billy Bob Thornton in a red gym suit. He is mean, horribly abusive, and mocks his students for their weight, their conditions, and many other things. We'll say he's the typical, mean gym teacher stereotype that doesn't really exist outside of our worst nightmares.Farley returns to his hometown of Nebraska to accept a prestigious award to realize that his widowed mother Beverly (Susan Sarandon) is in a relationship with Woodcock and, worse, sees him as one of the kindest souls she has ever known. Farley now must come up with a plan to expose Woodcock as the abusive soul he actually is, teaming up with his old middle school friend (Ethan Suplee) who recalls the torment all too well. After watching Seann William Scott in three American Pie pictures, up until this point, we almost want to see the character of Steve Stifler show up uninvited to pulverize the lame and simply uncharismatic John Farley. Much like his own name, Farley is vanilla and weak, who is made even more forgettable and grating when we see just how in love with his corny self-help nonsense he is. Making your movie character a self-help guru is never a good idea, mainly because they either have to be smarmy in the regard that they don't believe what they're preaching, dense because they only believe a small part of it and act like they hold the secrets of the world because of it, or naive because they seem to genuinely believe every single they say or publish. Farley is the naive one, who has seemed to publish nonsense for so long he has actually began to believe what he is saying. Billy Bob Thornton is also surprisingly vanilla here, given little to say or do that is very funny. This comes as a shock to me because Thornton always finds ways to make the most questionable material funny, given his track record including Bad Santa and School for Scoundrels. Take a look at the latter film and see how Thornton played a very similar character in that film, often being manipulative, passive-aggressive, easily-angered, and always looking for a competition no matter how meaningless. Here, Thornton more often than not looks tired, uninspired, and uninterested in his character or his material, which is just depressing to say about a veteran actor like himself. On the other hand, Susan Sarandon is given a pretty thankless role, stuck in the middle between two male leads who always seem to be fighting for their turn on screen. Amy Poehler, as well, is clearly aiming to do ,pretty strong things with her character, comically, but more often than not (take the scene at the bar when she's on the phone with Farley for example) she's just awkward and trying to hard. The biggest tragedy about Mr. Woodcock is its repetition. In seventy-nine minutes, it finds ways to constantly repeat jokes, and for a lead character who doesn't believe in holding onto the past, writers Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert sure seem to enjoy recycling old jokes. Mr. Woodcock has about two or three laughs in it, all of which coming from Billy Bob Thornton, which says more about him than any other actor at hand here as it shows he can still not even try to half his potential yet still succeed in being funny every now and then.Starring: Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon, Ethan Suplee, and Amy Poehler. Directed by: Craig Gillespie.
Syl
It has a great cast featuring Billy Bob Thornton in the title role of Jasper Woodcock, a physical education teacher, in Forest Meadow, Nebraska. He is dating the mother of a self-help author played by Susan Sarandon. I forget who plays the son but really Sarandon and Thornton steal the scenes away. Jasper Woodcock is pretty much like his surname and can be cruel to his students to teach them a lesson. Well when one of his graduate students returns to town for an award, he is shocked or horrified at the idea of him becoming his stepfather. I have to say that the cast is superb featuring small roles by Melissa Leo as Woodcock's ex-wife, Bill Macy as his father, Ethan Suplee as a fellow classmate from school of his, etc. Of course, I can't forget Amy Poehler who steals the scenes as an over the top book agent. Well, the film has plenty of humorous moments to mention. It's done quite effectively and timely. There's not that much stupidity in this film comedy as in others. It's a fine wild ride of laughter and seriousness but more laughter.
disdressed12
Mr. Woodcock was a surprise for me.but a pleasant one.i found it very funny.in fact,riotously so,at times.i don't really like Billy Bob Thornton,but in this case,the movie transcends him.sure,a lot of the humour is juvenile and raunchy,but sometimes that's what you need.there's no subtlety here.they brought out the heaviest sledgehammer they could find,and employed it generously.if you don't like broad comedy stay away from this one.it also takes a very cynical view of things,but a lot of people can probably relate to having someone like Mr. Woodcock as a teacher/authority figure of some kind in their life,so it might resonate on that level.and it's always nice to see these things happen to others rather than ourselves.all i know is,i laughed a lot.for me,Mr.Woodcock is an 8/10
