Mr. Woodcock (2007)

John Farley (Seann William Scott) is a successful self-help writer going back to his Nebraska hometown to get a local award Corn Cob Key. He tells his callous agent Maggie (Amy Poehler) that the book is about letting go of past trauma like his dead father. However the title comes from his gym coach Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton) bullying him. He is shocked when his mother Beverly Farley (Susan Sarandon) reveals that she's dating Woodcock. He falls for former classmate and English teacher Tracy Detweiller (Melissa Sagemiller). With Nedderman (Ethan Suplee) and his brother, the group of Woodcock victims haplessly try to break up the relationship.Billy Bob Thornton is fine as the cruel Woodcock. Susan Sarandon is playing it too dumb. She doesn't play dumb well. The character has to be less simplistic or they should have gotten somebody different to play the mom. Seann William Scott is simply not funny in this movie. His natural personality is being suppressed. This could still work as a black comedy if it took more chances and be darker.

'Mr. Woodcock' is a Fun to watch for a one-time viewing. It gets some of the jokes right & a talented cast pitch in admirable performances. 'Mr. Woodcock' Synopsis: Taken aback by his mother's wedding announcement, a young man returns home in an effort to stop her from marrying his old high school gym teacher, a man who made high school hell for generations of students.'Mr. Woodcock' has a breezy first-hour, where most of the sequences make you laugh. The second-hour becomes monotonous, but a fairly done climax gets back your attention. The Screenplay moves from funny to becoming repetitive. Its passable nevertheless. Craig Gillespie's Direction is fair. Cinematography, Editing & Art Design, is average.Performance-Wise: Seann William Scott delivers a comedic performance, yet again. Billy Bob Thornton enacts the moron with spice. Susan Sarandon is sincere enough. Ethan Suplee is cute. Amy Poehler is first-rate.On the whole, 'Mr. Woodcock' works well enough.

1st watched 7/30/2011 – 7 out of 10 (Dir-Craig Gillespie): Funny and well-made comedy about an over-bearing gym teacher who affects an overweight youngster in a negative way, as well as most of the other students in the class. The youngster grows up and becomes an author of a kind of self-help book about forgetting your painful past, returns home to receive a local award, and finds out his mom is dating the gym teacher(his painful past). This is the setup for what becomes the un-doing of the adult, played by Seann William Scott, as he learns that he can't handle the idea of his mom, played by Susan Sarandon, being with Mr. Woodcock. Ironically, Woodcock – played by Billy Bob Thornton – is also getting an award on the same night for educator of the year. The primary stars hold their own and are funny when they need to be, but otherwise just let the script and the premise create the jokes. The director does a good job of keeping the laughs coming even when you think the movie is going to turn sappy near the end. No real changes occur in the characters – they just kind of eventually learn to accept one another, avoiding the we-all-learned-something mentality of most movies of this kind. Overall, this is a well-scripted, not overdone, but funny movie that didn't have to have a big name comedy star to make it work(or maybe that's why it worked?).

"School for Scoundrels" was a pretty darn disappointing movie, but this one is WAY worse. It's also way more dull and boring, the story if it's even a story is just random and stupid. The whole time it just tries to add shock humor which doesn't even work properly with Billy Bob Thornton playing the similar psychotic mentor dude doing psychotic things to the protagonist played by Seann William Scott who doesn't really act crazy and obnoxious this time around. And while making his life a living hell, Billy Bob's character wins the trust of the people around the protagonist some who he is in love with and even gets in a engagement with his mom. Which doesn't sit right with him cause Woodcock was a crazy gym teacher when he was in elementary. Just everything about this film is predictable and has a lousy script to go with it. Like some reviewers are saying, if you seen the trailer you basically seen the movie. And the trailer wasn't even funny, but has the best parts in that trailer. Just by watching the trailer, you can tell this movie is going to suck. I guess Thorton likes playing this type of character, but if this is the direction he is going than he should just stop.3/10