The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Out & About

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For all intents and purposes, "Drillbit Taylor" needs to be renamed "Superbad: The Early Years," as it plays like a watered down version of the high school buddy comedy released just months ago.

It was inevitable - the first chink in the rightly canonized Judd Apatow ("The 40-Year-Old Virgin") comedic empire.

But oh how the mighty have fallen.

To date, industry "experts" have drooled at Apatow's ability to churn out hits at breakneck speed. Obediency was his undoing this time around. Reteaming with screenwriter Seth Rogen, who can't resist creating younger reincarnations of himself, "Drillbit" is borderline insulting in its familiarity. In short, the duo is guilty of plagiarizing their own work.

Once again we have the beanpole, brainy nerd (Michael Cera, err, Nate Hartley) and the lovable tub of lard with a bee's hive for hair (Jonah Hill, wait no, Troy Gentile) just trying to make it through modern warfare, a.k.a. high school.

Perhaps the preface to "Superbad," we join our misfits on their first day of school, where bullies hone in on them when the two show up in matching bowling-jersey style shirts.

"Two for one sale at Hot Topic?" asks their bus driver, the graceful Goldberg from "Mighty Ducks," in one of the few inspired moments.

"Drillbit" is reminiscent of the '80s high school flicks, where the losers couldn't be more innocent and the bullies rank up there with Saddam, Kim Jong-il or even Dick Cheney. It's so squeaky clean, it plays like a made-for-TV version of the Apatow brand.

The recipe that has distinguished the lord of producers - a dash of raunchy with a side of heart - is absent here.

Instead, it grasps at emotional straws and repetitive cheap laughs accustomed with less established filmmakers.

And still, I haven't mentioned Owen Wilson, the self-titled Drillbit, hired by our geeks to fend off the bullies.

He is charming, at times, but more often than not hollow, failing to lure in the audience with that aw shucks, comedic persona he has fine-tuned.

Don't count me among those with the nerve to attribute this clanker to his personal demons, which were launched into the public eye with his recent suicide attempt.

Whatever the reason, Wilson needs some good press these days. But "Drillbit" isn't the career manna he so desperately needed.

So, everyone take a collective breath. Apatow will be back soon - likely next week.

"Drillbit" could be the mishap we all have at one point or another that serves as the ultimate motivator: suck less.

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