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Billy Bob Thornton as an obnoxious bastich in a comedy involving groin injuries? Yep. Again.

There seems to be a rule that today’s slapstick comedies have to feature either Ashton Kutcher, Billy Bob Thornton, Jon Heder or Seann William Scott. Hollywood studios appear to live hard by this rule, and when they can get more than one of these guys in the same film, then bonus. At least for them; for the viewer, maybe not so much. The latest of these obnoxious films is Mr. Woodcock, which stars Scott (formerly of the Dukes of Hazzard and Dude, Where’s My Car? and Billy Bob Thornton (School for Scoundrels, Bad News Bears).

Scott plays John Farley, a self-made self-help guru who’s returning home after a long absence. Once a fat kid picked on by others in school, Farley is now a beloved author who has turned his life around. That life is thrown into chaos when he learns his mother (the still sexy Susan Sarandon) has a new boyfriend – Mr. Woodcock, the gym teacher who made John’s teen years a living hell. The rest of the film is nothing more than the two putting each other through more hell as John tries to drive Woodcock away.

There is nothing here we haven’t seen before. Thornton’s playing the same character he played in Scoundrels (just without the scam angle). Scott’s only minimally smarter than his Dude alter ego. Sarandon is…well, let’s just say that age has been wicked kind to her. The gags basically revolve around physical injury after physical injury, which lends an occasional laugh; otherwise, the film drags badly. Ethan Suplee (My Name is Earl) and Amy Poehler (Saturday Night Live) provide some supporting cast humor, but it just isn’t enough to make this a fully worthy watch. A cheap (very cheap) rental at most.

The New Line (RIP) DVD contains useless deleted scenes (bleh), a bland making-of featurette (double bleh), and a discussion with cast/crew members about their own PE class horror story memories (not as bleh, but still pretty bleh).

Mr. Woodcock is typical of today’s big studio comedies – running short on acting and plot, but long on testicular injury gags. It simply just does not have much going for it, and what little is here is just rehashed from much better films.

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