The summer is over, and Christmas is far away, so it must be September: that time of year when, as the Reuters news agency noted last weekend, the studios roll out their "prestige pictures" while dumping their "stale leftovers" on the multiplexes.

Guess which category Mr. Woodcock belongs to.

The film—which was shot more than two years ago and has apparently been sitting on a shelf somewhere ever since—stars Seann William Scott, best known for playing Stifler in the American Pie movies. Stifler, you may recall, was the rude, crude party boy who was shocked to discover that his mother had bedded one of his classmates. In his newest film, Scott plays John Farley, a nicer and much less abrasive figure who nevertheless finds himself in a similar predicament, when he learns that his widowed mother is dating, and having sex with, the strict, mean, heartless gym teacher whose classes traumatized John when he was just a boy.

Seann William Scott as John Farley

Seann William Scott as John Farley

The film begins by showing us one of those classes, as Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton) berates the boys in his charge. "Take a lap, lose the asthma," is a typically insensitive instruction, and Mr. Woodcock thinks nothing of hitting the boys with basketballs or insulting them the way a drill sergeant rants at his troops when they fail to succeed at the punitive exercises he gives them. It is easy to believe that little John Farley (Kyley Baldridge) would find the experience psychologically scarring.

Fast-forward a couple decades, and John (Scott) has grown up to become a popular motivational speaker and the author of a book that tells people "how to get past your past." He is on a book tour, signing autographs and giving his fans pat feel-good aphorisms like, "All I did was give you the raft. You had to inflate it yourself." And then he discovers his hometown would like to honour him at their "Cornival," a corn-themed festival where people say things like "Corn-gratulations!" to each other.

Billy Bob Thornton as Jasper Woodcock

Billy Bob Thornton as Jasper Woodcock

So John goes home, pays his mother Beverly (Susan Sarandon) a visit … and there he discovers to his horror that she is about to go on a date with Mr. Woodcock. Right away, something doesn't feel quite right. Beverly seems like a smart, decent woman—how could anyone played by Sarandon seem otherwise?—and she clearly loves her son, so it is hard to believe that she would have no memory of the teacher who caused her boy so much pain. For the film's premise to work, we also have to believe that she sees something in Mr. Woodcock that his students must have missed—but we get very little sense of what that might be, apart from his prowess in the sack.

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John decides he has to break up the relationship somehow, so he teams up with an old classmate, Jay Nedderman (Ethan Suplee), to see if he can dig up any dirt on Mr. Woodcock. And, well, the story takes a few highly predictable turns. Note to future amateur detectives: When the ex-wife of your arch-nemesis tells you their marriage broke up because of "infidelity," try to find out whose infidelity it was before you embarrass everyone, not least yourself, by publicly making false accusations.

Susan Sarandon as John's mom, Beverly

Susan Sarandon as John's mom, Beverly

Directed by Craig Gillespie from a script by Michael Carnes and Josh Gilbert—none of whom have any prior experience directing or writing feature films—Mr. Woodcock tends to raise expectations and then fail to meet them. The title, and the poster featuring Thornton and a couple of strategically placed balls, might lead you to expect a rather lewd sort of comedy, but this film is actually pretty tame. (There is a scene in which John, snooping around Mr. Woodcock's house, is trapped under the bed while his mother and Mr. Woodcock have sex, but we don't see anything.)

The film also hints at a possible love interest for John when he meets Tracy (Melissa Sagemiller), a former schoolmate, but this subplot goes nowhere, because the filmmakers aren't really interested in it. What they are interested in is the ongoing battle of wills between John and Mr. Woodcock, which leads to a few good sight gags and not much else—though the film does hint, at times, at important truths.

Amy Poehler as Maggie, John's book-tour manager

Amy Poehler as Maggie, John's book-tour manager

The more we get to know Mr. Woodcock, the more human he becomes—though he doesn't necessarily become more likable. John accompanies Mr. Woodcock to a nursing home, where we see that he treats the senior citizens in the pool with the same caustic contempt that he uses on schoolchildren. But John also meets Mr. Woodcock's father, whose homophobic taunts mark him as, if anything, an even more abusive person. We can thus infer that Mr. Woodcock's rough edges, and his need to look down on other people, are something he inherited from his old man. (It's rather reminiscent of the character Thornton played in Monster's Ball.)

At one point, Mr. Woodcock tells John he never says "sorry" because only "criminals and screw-ups" need to use that word. Mr. Woodcock is apparently reluctant to admit that every person, including himself, sometimes does the wrong thing; and if it is difficult to believe that he made it this far in his relationship with Beverly without ever having to use that word, circumstances conspire to change all that.

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But as admirable as some of the film's themes may be, the film itself remains a dull experience. Fans of Saturday Night Live's Amy Poehler might get a kick out of her character, a hyper-cynical book-tour manager who is constantly urging John to ditch his mother and his hometown and to put his career first—but even she can't help save this film from feeling like an underachieving collection of cliché s. If this film were one of his students, Mr. Woodcock would have every reason to tell it to take another lap.

Talk About It

Discussion starters
  1. Mr. Woodcock says the word "sorry" is only for "criminals and screw-ups." Do you agree or disagree? Would you apply those words the same way Mr. Woodcock applies them, or differently? In what way might we all be "criminals and screw-ups"?
  2. In what ways might the hard line toed by Mr. Woodcock be a sign of strength? In what ways might it be a sign of weakness? In what ways might weakness, itself, be a sign of strength? Note how the film suggests it takes "backbone" to say "sorry."
  3. John says his book has been helpful to people, and Mr. Woodcock replies, "Lot of losers out there, I guess." When have you been tempted to dismiss people as "losers"? Why do you think people tend to look at others that way? Do you (or did you) ever see yourself as a "loser"? If so, in what way? And how do you/did you deal with it?
  4. Beverly is in a relationship and has not told her son; and once her son finds out, she is reluctant to accept her son's criticisms of Mr. Woodcock. How do you think single parents should approach new relationships, after their children have matured to adulthood? How would you respond if you had a mother like Beverly? A son like John? Do you "buy" the relationship between Beverly and Mr. Woodcock? What do you think it is based on?
  5. How difficult do you think it is for people to relate to parents and teachers as fellow adults, after they have grown up? How has your relationship to human authority figures changed over the years? Have these changes affected the way you see your relationship with the ultimate Authority, i.e. God? If so, how?
  6. At the beginning of the film, John has published a book encouraging people to "get past your past." By the end of the film, he is saying that people should "embrace" their past. If you had to choose between these options, which would you choose? Do you think you have to choose between them? What are their pros and cons?
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The Family Corner

For parents to consider

Mr. Woodcock is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content (various references to Mr. Woodcock's sexual relationship with John's mother, including a scene in which John is trapped under a bed while they have sex, though all we see is the rising and falling of the mattress), thematic material, language (about a dozen dirty words, and a couple of names taken in vain) and a mild drug reference (in a scene where a man testifies that he has been "mostly drug-free" since "I found my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ" in a juvenile detention center). When John expresses surprise that Mr. Woodcock has a father, Mr. Woodcock replies, "I'm not Jesus!" When someone says their favorite part of John's book was the lesson that we should treat other people the way we want to be treated, he replies, "I kind of stole it from the Bible."

What other Christian critics are saying:

Mr. Woodcock
Our Rating
1½ Stars - Weak
Average Rating
 
(not rated yet)ADD YOURSHelp
Mpaa Rating
PG-13 (for crude and sexual content, thematic material, language and a mild drug reference)
Genre
Directed By
Craig Gillespie
Run Time
1 hour 27 minutes
Cast
Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, Susan Sarandon
Theatre Release
September 14, 2007 by New Line Cinema
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