Drillbit Taylor (2008, Steven Brill)

Aaaand the Apatow comedy brand barrels full-steam ahead. This time around, three put-upon kids hire Owen Wilson-- a vagrant conman masquerading as a troubled veteran with a master's in ass-kicking-- to ward off their high-school intimidator, a wild-eyed, legally emancipated ("he's above the law!") neo-bully named Filkins. It's a PG-13 high school comedy-- you'd be right to be skeptical.

But Drillbit Taylor isn't nearly as bad as the general public would have you believe. While certain scenes may remind you of an edited-for-tv Superbad-- that's right, the gangly awkward kid and the chubby motormouth even have their own McLovin-- there's startling enjoyment to be found here. Sure, the best gags aren't up to even the throwaways in Pineapple Express or older sib Superbad, but of the recent litany of flicks with Judd Apatow's inimitable fingerprints on it, it's right up there with Walk Hard in the category of "not a classic, but better than Zohan."

This movie hinges on the kids. Owen tries-- he's always fun to watch, isn't he? well, except for I Spy-- but he's not really the star of this particular show. The kids are the surprising element here-- engaging, full of heart, and funny. Very funny, in fact. Jonah Hill-in-training Troy Gentile is the show-stealer here-- one part foul (PG-13 foul, at least) know-it-all, one part gangsta posturing-- but Nate Hartley has a few fantastic moments as Gentile's gawky partner-in-crime. He's the movie's soul when it's all over with-- his performance is the most heartfelt, the most real. Also, the Junior McLovin here is the creepy son from The Ring. Even Alex Frost is great as the bully. He gets this scary look in his eyes like someone told him he was the villain in the new X-Men movie, but the contrast kinda works here. His bad guy is one who earns his inevitable comeuppance. He has this great standoff with Hartley, mid-movie, that actually warrants some excitement, and it's cool.

It's ashame, kind of, that the adults are so forgettable. The greener thespians here run rings around their seasoned counterparts. Wilson fares the best, but he's hardly at the top of his game, and elsewhere, lots of exciting names show up in pretty flat minor roles. Stephen Root gets a few chuckles as an oblivious principal, but Leslie Mann, so memorable in Knocked Up and 40-Year-Old Virgin, here disappoints as Wilson's drooling galpal, disappointingly expendable. Even Danny McBride, a scene-stealer in high-profile comedies like Pineapple Express and Tropic Thunder, fails to land a good laugh. Actually, it's Frank Whaley, of all people, in a fleeting cameo as an auditioning bodyguard, who makes the biggest impression, but after his twitchy turn as a creepster motel owner in Vacancy, I'm lobbying for more roles for that dude anyway.

The script begs some inevitable questions. Drillbit's substitute teacher charade becomes even more preposterous when some of his homeless buddies show up for work, and even the film's central conceit is suspect: what's more emasculating, taking your knocks from a bully, or having to call in the adult cavalry to stave him off? Still, the movie's a lot more charming than I would've anticipated, and as lesser Apatow (weird how we still call them Apatow movies when he's only directed two features, huh? dude's got the comedic world under his thumb right now), it works in that dialed-down, reduced-raunch Superbad sorta way.

Plus, flick gets major props for: 1.) avoiding the obvious, mawkish, "violence solves nothing" sentiment that similar movies would've taken, and 2.) featuring a rap battle as a central turning point. If more movies had rap battles, cinema would flourish a little bit more, I think. Might've even liked The Happening if it'd had a rap battle.

Rating: *** (out of five)