Sean William Scott (star of Evolution and the American Pie movies) plays Farley, who had a terrible time at high school because of his Gym Teacher Mr. Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton) who used to torture him and his classmates because they weren't athletic enough.

Now a renowned author about overcoming trials like these he is back in town because he has been offered a prestigious local prize. He is shocked to find out that his mother is dating none other than Mr Woodcock. When he realises that the steps in his book, just wont work here he has to devize a new way of splitting them up.

I'd not heard of this film when I walked into the cinema and I can see why. Perhaps they wanted the main teacher to be evil in a real kind of way and thats why, for all intensive purposes he isn't theatrically OTT - he's not pleasant but not evil either.

Although the film certainly had it's moments of intense comedy, these were relatively few and far between for a Sean William Scott film. All the actors played their parts well but something was just missing - I just can't quite figure out what that was.

See this, like we did, when your only other choices are Superbad or Knocked Up or when you've seen most of the other films. Not bad but not that good either.

see also:
Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Bruce Almighty, Dinner for Shmucks, Land of the Lost

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photo © New Line Cinema.