Country: United States
Genre: Comedy
Director: Craig Gillespie
Year: 2007
Rating: 
NOT WORTH YOUR TIME
Mr. Woodcock starts out with a perfectly serviceable premise.
John Farley (Seann William Scott) is a successful self-help author who was victimized as a kid by a sadistic, bullying PhysEd coach, Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton). Farley’s life comes unraveled when he finds out that his mother (Susan Sarandon) is dating his old nemesis.
The problem is not the casting. Billy Bob Thornton is perfectly capable of playing a hardassed gym teacher. Seann William Scott has the manic grin of a self help guru down cold. Susan Sarandon would have no trouble making a woman who’s attracted to a neanderthal convincing.
The problem is the conception of the filmmakers, starting with an execrable script by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert. Following current comedy convention, they exaggerate everything to the point that it has almost no connection to real life. It would be possible to mine a considerable amount of situational and character humor from a self-help author being forced to come to terms with his nemesis marrying his mother, but not when no details ring true. The writers think that the louder and cruder they get, the funnier the movie will be. They are wrong. What Mr. Woodcock needed was subtlety and a stringent emphasis on realistic behavior.
Director Craig Gillespie makes things even worse by filming the action like a Road Runner cartoon. At one point, Mr. Woodcock does a face plant into concrete and comes up without a scratch.
The filmmakers show complete contempt for the audience, ignoring the implications of the premise and stuffing their film with cliches from screenwriting manuals instead. Mr. Woodcock is one the most emotionally fraudulent and laugh-free comedies I’ve ever had the misfortune to sit through.
If you are even tempted to watch Mr. Woodcock on account of it’s premise, let me suggest a more productive and pleasant use of your precious time: shoving splinters of bamboo up your fingernails and urethra, followed by lighting them on fire. Yes, Mr. Woodcock is that painful.
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