A charming and fun comedy with an interesting combination of characters.

Writing: The plotting of the film doesn’t break new ground in any particular way, but it feels different enough to separate itself from any similar films. I will give them credit for actually explaining why the characters are the way they are, for once. In fact, it’s scenes like that where this film works best. Scenes like the flashbacks to the childhood gym classes or the amusing visit by Mr. Woodcock to see his father in a nursing home not only work best for the characters, but also provide some of the best comedy. I also admire them for shying away from some of the more extreme or gross styled humor that has become a staple of such genre films of late. It may have some definite weak moments and an unsteady feeling, but much of it works well enough to be entertaining.

Production: Pretty much nothing to single out in either a good or bad way about the production of this film. Everything is about as good as one would expect, or as it should be. Nothing particularly flashy or stylish, nor does there need to be.

Cast: Here’s the strongest aspect of the film. It’s almost impossible to thing of anyone but Billy Bob Thornton for a role like this, so it’s no surprise that he was cast. If I had read this script, he would have immediately been the first actor I would have thought of for the role. And having played it so many times, he makes it all work with ease. He’s more sympathetic in this one than in most of his other similar performances, which is a nice change of pace. Seann William Scott does a good job in the role that would have typically been given to the likes of Ben Stiller. He works equally well as the grown up version of the humiliated child turned self-help author and as the man on a vengeance streak. Susan Sarandon pulls off the role of the mother quite well. She has the tough sell of being the woman who’s in love with the Mr. Woodcock character, and she somehow pulls it off. It’s amusing to see Sarandon in supporting performances in films as diverse from each other as this and In The Valley Of Elah within the same week. Other supporting roles in the film are filled with great acting choices, from the always-fun Ethan Suplee to Melissa Sagemiller. But it’s Amy Poehler who steals the show in her brief scenes as the heartless publisher.

Music: Theodore Shapiro, who has made a career of scoring comedies in recent years like few others, proves why he’s given the job so often. His score is one of my favorite aspects of this film. It’s got a very fun, retro style. Definitely a fun score, and one of those rare examples of the music score itself managing to be funny (that’s actually an insanely hard thing to pull off).

This entry was posted on Friday, October 5th, 2007 at 3:10 am and is filed under Movie Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.