Mr. Woodcock (Blu-ray/New Line)
Picture:
B+ Sound: B+ Extras: D Film: D
Yet
again, here is Billy Bob Thornton wasting his time for a paycheck doing the same angry,
ornery, tired, mean so and so that he has already played four previous timers
and counting. This time, he is a gym
teacher out to destroy the son (a career out-of-control Seann William Scott) of
a woman (Susan Sarandon) he starts dating after targeting the student in the
single-entendre titled Mr. Woodcock
(2007), director Craig Gillespie’s would-be comedy with no laughs and many
problems.
Of
course, the whole Michael Carnes/Josh Gilbert screenplay is built on jokes
around homophobia, humiliation, incest and people hurting other people beyond
damage, then tries to hide it behind a very thin veneer of comedy. This only became somewhat palatable in the
sick family films in the 1980s (like the ongoing incest joke in Back To The Future) but this is on the
level of a torture porn film where there is no story, just set-ups for the next
sick insanity. Needless to say this
tanked at the box office and New Line hopes this rents consistently for ill
thrills.
Unfortunately,
this is just flat out bad no matter what and the truth is, only someone in deep
denial could find this funny. This kind
of thing is no laughing matter and if it was happening in real life, would
potentially be another evening news story if the worst was realized. Two males in said situation could land up
trying to kill each other and it would not be a comedy then, but this is a low
grade script with money and it is never secretive about that. However, since Thornton has already done this
kind of thing before, isn’t even the sickest of potentially funny humor now
dead? Amy Poehler and Bill Macy are also wasted.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image is clean and clear as shot by Director
of Photography Tami Reiker in Super 35mm film, something that is slowly
becoming less common in commercial studio comedy releases. Versus such HD releases (Superbad, Knocked-Up)
this looks about on par, but with less redness than the latter. Too bad the lighting is flat and dull like a
bad TV sitcom. DTS 7.1 HD MA (Master
Audio) lossless mix on the Blu-ray is not bad, but seems like a waste for a
dialogue-driven pseudo comedy, though I love how New Line has DTS 2.0 for some
of their supplements versus the usual Dolby or PCM. Theodore Shapiro (Idiocracy) has little worth scoring here. Others are also 7.1 DTS MA or DTS 5.1 to
little avail. Extras include deleted
scenes, a making of featurette, theatrical trailer and the annoying “P.E.
Trauma Tales” that proves this whole fiasco does not know when to call it
quits.
- Nicholas Sheffo
