Who Would Have The Last Name Woodcock?

On the opposite side of the spectrum from Good Luck Chuck, Mr. Woodcock seems to have popped out of nowhere. I didn’t hear about this movie starring Billy Bob Thornton and Seann William Scott until about a week or two before the scheduled release today. Since this was the only comedy that caught my eye that is being released this week, I thought I would just talk about it briefly. Some of the commercials have given me a good chuckle but I’m just not convinced by this movie. Although it might help that the movie is releasing on a down week for new releases. Seann William Scott hasn’t had a hit since his early career success in comedies like Dude, Where’s My Car? And American Pie. Outside of Bad Santa, Billy Bob hasn’t had a hit comedy in recent memory. Back to what’s important, the preview.

Billy Bob Thornton plays a sadistic gym teacher named Mark Woodcock. He used to torture kids like John Farley, played by Seann William Scott. John later recovers from this early child hood abuse and turns out to be a successful self help author and motivational speaker. When he returns to his home town, who want to reward John for all of his success, painful memories of torment long thought to be buried return. The return of these horrible past event are brought on by John finding out that his widowed mother, played by Susan Sarandon, is now dating Mr. Woodcock. What’s even worse is that the man, who tortured and humiliated him, is now engaged to his mother. The movie shows John trying to prevent the marriage from happening in any way that he can. (Good thing Angelina Jolie isn’t playing John’s mother or Billy Bob would have stayed as far away from her as possible. But would have made this a lot more interesting)