Links: IMDb * Wikipedia * AllMovie * Rotten Tomatoes
Premise: Three boys starting their freshman year in high school suffer abuse at the hands of a couple of bullies and hire a bodyguard to protect them.
Stars: Owen Wilson * Leslie Mann * Danny McBride
Story: Friends Wade and Ryan are freshmen who on their first day of school attract the attention of two bullies by standing up for a small boy getting stuffed in his locker. After all three receive repeated harassment, they decide to hire a bodyguard. A homeless US Army deserter named Drillbit Taylor (Wilson) answers the call, and since he's the cheapest, they hire him.
Taylor looks at the boys as an opportunity and begins stealing items from them in order to pawn them for money. He begins to bond with them, faking a substitute teacher position in the school while he flirts with a real teacher (Mann). Eventually, the truth about his thievery catches up to him, as well as his past as a deserter. He helps the boys stand up to the bullies and takes his punishment for his actions and history, becoming a better man.
Review: While it has its moments, it's not high on the roster of Apatow-produced films. The dialogue reminds one of Superbad and Freaks and Geeks, but the plot is pretty predictable and no performances really stand out. While the kids are enjoyable, it's a pretty mediocre film.
There is an enjoyable cameo by Adam Baldwin, one of the stars of the seminal My Bodyguard from the early 1980s.
Overall: Mediocre
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