Mr. Woodcock

Plot synopsis:
During their childhood, John Farley (Seann William Scott) and many of his classmates were tormented by their sadistic gym teacher, Mr. Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton). Since then, things have turned out quite well for John, who has gone on to become a successful self-help author and motivational speaker about "letting go", inspired by his own experiences. But when John's hometown offers him an award, he decides to return home and face his unpleasant memories. His manager initially rejects it as too trivial without consulting Farley, but Farley is pleased by the award and returns to Nebraska to receive it.When John returns home he is horrified to find that Woodcock is now dating his widowed mother Beverly (Susan Sarandon), and the two become engaged shortly after. To make matters worse, Mr. Woodcock is being awarded for his years of educating children. Mr. Woodcock's behavior toward Farley is still unpleasant. John tries to break up the engagement to save both himself and his mother.To that end, he decides to beat Mr. Woodcock at his own game. He spends the whole day with him, going everywhere with him. First, they visit a gym, where, after a rather long speech, Mr. Woodcock berates him for constantly talking. The two then go on treadmills, where John attempts to run faster than Mr. Woodcock, and is launched into a set of weights behind him. They then go into a retirement home where John meets Mr. Woodcock's father, a rude wheelchair-bound man. Mr. Woodcock makes the elderly people in the pool run in place, and take laps. He then spots Pulumbo, a wheelchair-bound man sitting in the corner of the room, not swimming in the pool, and decides to push him in. John, thinking he is unable to swim, tries to dive in and save him, but is knocked out by the man (who apparently can swim), and has to be given mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. When he gets home, his old classmate and that man's younger brother are there (with the boy having a black eye), with fake evidence of Mr. Woodcock's abuse, consisting of the boy begging an off-camera man he claims to be Mr. Woodcock not to do something, and is immediately hit in the head with a folded up chair. When Mr. Woodcock and Beverly come home, the fake evidence immediately cuts to a scene of the man driving in his truck, ranting about how hot Farley's mom is, wishing he could motorboat her breasts. He tries to rewind the tape, but only ends up repeating parts of his rant, for which he's ejected from the house by Mr. Woodcock. At the carnival, Woodcock is better at various games, though John wins in an eating contest, but not before embarrassing himself in front of the crowd.Irritated, he meets up with his old classmate, who says that he has found Mr. Woodcock's ex-wife, whom Mr. Woodcock's father had mentioned earlier. She tells John that they divorced because of infidelity; the reason she had not done that earlier was the great sex with Mr. Woodcock, once he made her black out from pleasure, and made her speak Portuguese, despite having no knowledge of the language. John, thinking Mr. Woodcock is cheating on his mother, decides to expose it to his mom, and he and his classmate go to Mr. Woodcock's house. As they are trying to find evidence, Mr. Woodcock comes up the stairs, forcing them to hide. As soon as Mr. Woodcock comes in, John's mom comes in as well, and they have sex on the bed (making her speak a phrase in Portuguese in the proccess) as John suffers underneath them. With excitement, his friend opens the shutters and records the whole scene.Next they are at the award ceremony for Woodcock. One by one people come up to the stage and praise him for the good that he has done in their life. Then John is awarded the "Corn Cob Key" and during his acceptance speech, he sums up the misery Woodcock has supposedly caused, but he makes a fool of himself. Much of his evidence is busted, as his classmate did not die as he thought and his ex-wife cheated on him, instead of visa-versa.After Woodcock threatens to beat up John, Beverly becomes so mad that she breaks up with Woodcock. The next day, John has to do a live video interview with Tyra Banks. His mother tells John that he never thought of what made her happy and always thought about himself. John runs out of his interview in the middle of it and apologizes to Woodcock. They then get into a fight that turns into them, in full costumes, wrestling. It ends with Jasper getting rushed to the hospital by John. John rushes Jasper on his gurney to his mom who is sitting atop a float on a parade. After his gurney flips over on the "one pothole in the town" his mother takes him to the hospital where John gives his blessings to his mother and tells his mother that Jasper is a very good person and molded him into what he is today.The film ends at christmas time with Jasper telling John that he read his book. Says one good thing about it, then burns it. After his next book is released, Jasper tells John that his mom is pregnant and the film closes with him saying "Just joking".

Tags: flashback

Review:
Like last year's School for Scoundrels, Woodcock is yet another movie in which Billy Bob Thornton plays a violent dick (no pun intended) and fails to be anywhere near as funny as he should be, thanks to a sloppy, almost laugh-less script.
Just about every truly funny part was crammed into the commercials.I love Bad Santa and all, but it has really done more harm than good seeing as another Thornton-acts-like-a-sociopath-and-gets-away-with-it "comedy" gets released every year.
I'm not denying that I laughed a couple of times ('cause let's face it, Thornton abusing kids is funny by default) but in the end Woodcock is just a half-baked comedy-drama which is neither hilarious nor touching..
I was pretty excited to see this movie because from what I saw it seemed really funny and I like Seann William Scott but I have to say I was sort of disappointed.
Mr. Woodcock, the evil junior high gym teacher that made John's life a living hell; and it looks like Mr. Woodcock has not changed his ways when he starts to treat "Farley" the same way he did when he was a kid.
Woodcock, Billy Bob Thorton's gym teacher character is much too one dimensional to really work since he has one expression the whole time.
His mother (Susan Sarandon) now dates the titled character (Billy Bob Thornton), Scott's former gym teacher who forever tormented and belittled him as a husky youth.
Mr. Woodcock is the sort of film that I usually dread going to see, a sort of Meet The Parents rip off in the same vein as recent pictures like Relative Strangers and Guess Who. To be fair this movie betters both of those considerably, mainly due to the talented cast at the directors reach.
Thornton ever since heavy success with Bad Santa back in 2003 has been making a career of playing weirdos (usually mean ones) and as Woodcock he's a solid choice who digs up several strong laughs.
Well there are, however, the best parts of Mr Woodcock are not the sexual innuendos, but come from the various gymnasium scenes, where Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thorton) the PE teacher runs his classes like a sadistic drill sergeant, and all the misfits tremble in fear and loathe as he puts them through the paces, with physical, mental and emotional abuse dished out in deadpan manner.
The filmmakers know this, and set the bar high enough from the get go, but only for the movie to spiral in the general southwards direction.Thirteen years after his unforgettable years of growing up under Mr Woodcock's insults, John Farley (Seann William Scott) becomes a renowned self help guru and published a bestseller called "Letting Go: How to Get Past Your Past", because it takes one successful loser to teach the rest how to move on.
During a journey back home where you're hit with a barrage of literally corny jokes, John realizes to his horror that his mother Beverly (Susan Sarandon) is now dating Mr Woodcock, and he makes it his mission to dissuade her from giving him a new stepdad, one who has been the bane of his childhood.That basically becomes the premise of the movie, and a highly predictable one at that.
You can tell by some of the continuity errors, helped in no part by John's bad haircut episode.Billy Bob Thorton owns the movie as Woodcock, delivery his deliciously acidic remarks with aplomb.
Sean William Scott is better known unfortunately for his loud and over the top Stifler from the American Pie movies, but given a rather muted character like John Farley, he fades away quicker than you can spell l-o-s-e-r.
Most of the other supporting cast like Amy Poehler and Ethan Suplee got wasted, with the former being a self-professed alcoholic Barbie doll, while the other a fanatic who had read John's book 900 times and counting.Mr Woodcock isn't laugh out loud or laugh a minute, but it has its moments.
One of his students, an overweight kid by the name of John Farley, grows up to write a best-selling self-help book about letting go of one's past as a means of embracing one's future.
Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon and Seann William Scott (Stifler in the "American Pie" movies) have all proved their talent and likability many times in the past, but they aren't allowed to go much beyond one-note performances in this film.
Thus providing more hard times for our lead character and apparently some unfunny situations that we are suppose to laugh at.Ever since the very funny Bad Santa, there have been a slew of Billy Bob Thorton plays an asshole type comedy.
John Farley (Seann William Scott) is a successful self-help writer going back to his Nebraska hometown to get a local award Corn Cob Key. He tells his callous agent Maggie (Amy Poehler) that the book is about letting go of past trauma like his dead father.
However, Mr. Woodcock's screenplay feels as if it was devised by a group of teenage boys who knew no world outside of comic books, Playboys, sugary junk food, and Saturday morning cartoons.The story concerns John Farley (Seann William Scott), a once overweight child that grew up to be a very successful self-help author.
We'll say he's the typical, mean gym teacher stereotype that doesn't really exist outside of our worst nightmares.Farley returns to his hometown of Nebraska to accept a prestigious award to realize that his widowed mother Beverly (Susan Sarandon) is in a relationship with Woodcock and, worse, sees him as one of the kindest souls she has ever known.
Making your movie character a self-help guru is never a good idea, mainly because they either have to be smarmy in the regard that they don't believe what they're preaching, dense because they only believe a small part of it and act like they hold the secrets of the world because of it, or naive because they seem to genuinely believe every single they say or publish.
Mr. Woodcock has about two or three laughs in it, all of which coming from Billy Bob Thornton, which says more about him than any other actor at hand here as it shows he can still not even try to half his potential yet still succeed in being funny every now and then.Starring: Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon, Ethan Suplee, and Amy Poehler.
Sean William Scott , Susan Sarandon, and Billy Bob Thorton, excellent pairing,, our story is about a boy who had a horrible gym teacher,, always picking on him,, throwing the ball at him,, and stuff, so flash forward 20 or so years in time,, and our main character moves in with his mom, and who does he find dating his dear old mom.
the evil Mr. Woodcock ,, the gym teacher,, he spends the whole movie, trying to convince his mother that the gym teacher is no good,, he tries breaking them up several different ways, but all for not,, it appears that he is stuck with the evil gym teacher for life..
It has a great cast featuring Billy Bob Thornton in the title role of Jasper Woodcock, a physical education teacher, in Forest Meadow, Nebraska.
This film is about a successful self-help writer who goes home and find out that his mother is now dating the horrible basketball coach who haunted him years ago."Mr Woodcock" is a comedy that sees two men battling with each other constantly.
I know Billy Bob Thornton has played this type of role before, a la Bad Santa, but a lot of people won't care, because they go to the movies to be entertained, right?
Mr. Woodcock was a surprise for me.but a pleasant one.i found it very funny.in fact,riotously so,at times.i don't really like Billy Bob Thornton,but in this case,the movie transcends him.sure,a lot of the humour is juvenile and raunchy,but sometimes that's what you need.there's no subtlety here.they brought out the heaviest sledgehammer they could find,and employed it generously.if you don't like broad comedy stay away from this one.it also takes a very cynical view of things,but a lot of people can probably relate to having someone like Mr. Woodcock as a teacher/authority figure of some kind in their life,so it might resonate on that level.and it's always nice to see these things happen to others rather than ourselves.all i know is,i laughed a lot.for me,Mr.Woodcock is an 8/10.
I see why people hated this, but I found the movie to be clever especially with the talented duo of Seann William Scott and Billy Bob Thornton.This film is about an evil gym teacher who makes his students lives miserable especially John Farley.
Billy Bob Thorton plays Mr. Woodcock,an abusive gym teacher who tortures students for a living.One of his former students,John Farley,played by Sean William Scott,visits his mother only to discover that she and his former gym teacher are dating.But it gets worse.Soon he finds out that they're getting married.Tough luck for John.'Mr. Woodcock' is actually a funny,smart,and entertaining comedy that teens,especially boys,love.Well,maybe not every teen or adult loves this movie,but I really enjoyed it.The movie is full of slapstick humor and crude,suggestive behavior,just the way I like it.So ignore all of the negative reviews that this movie has been given and like it for what it is..
John's trauma was his gym teacher, Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), picked on and humiliated weak kids as part of his teaching method.
Her character, a publisher's representative guiding a new author on a book tour, is mean, not funny.Susan Sarandon plays the author's mother who is involved with the sadistic gym teacher (Billy Bob Thorton) the author had when he was a chubby junior high student.
Seann William Scott plays a man who goes back to his old home town to see his mother(Susan Sarandon) get hitched again to his mortal enemy, "Mr. Woodcock"(Billy Bob Thorton).
Mr.Woodcock is a boring comedy which did not produce me any laughs because all the jokes are clichéd and tired.That's a serious problem in a comedy.Billy Bob Thornton is criminally wasted in this movie.He's an extraordinary actor but this movie does not show all his talent.He should appear in more movies like A Simple Plan or Bad Santa,which really take advantage of his talent,and not in craps like School for Scoundrels or Mr.Woodcock.Director Craig Gillespie shows nothing of artistic zeal.His work is simply mercenary.It was very difficult to me laughing with this movie because,as I said,all the jokes are tired and they left to be funny 20 years ago.I do not recommend this movie..
Put Seann William Scott in some good roles he is so much more talented and deserves much better roles than in movies like this.
I've seen some pretty awful films with IMDb ratings better than 5/10 - its current rating is way off beam.In Mr Woodcock, John Farley, an apparently together writer of a top selling self-help book "Letting go", (ably played by Sean William Scott), returns to his hometown to find that the gym teacher who tortured him through childhood is now dating his mother.
Also,Seann William Scott--as an adult former student who has become a best-selling self-help author who discovers to his great horror that aforementioned gym teacher is getting into his long-widowed mom's life--is effectively a good physical comedy foil for the situation.
In other words, it's a good, enjoyable comedy.There are two main subplots here: John Farley (Seann William Scott, aka Stifler from American Pie) used to be a pudgy ugly duckling who is now a successful self-help author.
Its main strength are the two central actors, Billy Bob Thornton as the tough-as-nails-but-not-quite-as-easy-to-hammer Jasper Woodcock and Susan Sarandon as the mom with a schoolgirl crush and "a hard man is good to find"-mentality, and both of them acting on a good script.
I tried to think of funnier Billy Bob Thornton films than his latest tepid comedy, "Mr. Woodcock," and came up with the following: "Bad News Bears," "Ice Harvest," "Pushing Tin," "Friday Night Lights," "Bad Santa," "Monster's Ball" and "Sling Blade." Heck, even "Goodfellas and "Passion of the Christ" had more laughs than this pointless piece of dredge which takes the worst elements of "Meet the Parents" and "The Girl Most Likely To," although with none of the charm, intelligence or humor of these pictures.After viewing this movie, however, I have a new-found respect for such comedic works as "R.V.," "Are We There/Done Yet?," "License To Wed," "Guess Who?," "Soul Plane," "King's Ranson," "My Baby's Daddy," "Little Man" and any of the "Scary Movie" versions.So, I suppose the experience wasn't all terrible ...Ah, but this film was.
With two Academy Award-nominated lead actors (Thornton, nominated for "Sling Blade" in 1996, and Susan Sarandon, winner in 1995 for "Dead Man Walking") joining up with Seann William Scott ("American Pie," "Old School") one would think some snickers would result, but few come about.The plot has Williams as John Farley (where's CHRIS Farley when we need him?), a successful self-help author, whose latest book, "Getting Past Your Past," is climbing the bestseller charts.
The nasty PE teacher whose methods affect children, the fat kid who has overcome Mr Woodcock's teaching to become good who has become famous, the widowed lonely mother who has found happiness in the arms of the bully, the nasty bitch who drinks and is abusive to all, the nice girl who stayed in the town and is a teacher herself and the loser, a loser at school and now a loser as an adult.This could have had the makings of a very funny, thought provoking story.
The most unfortunate thing about this movie is the waste of, particularly, an excellent actress like Susan Sarandon but also for wasting Seann William Scott, who has been far better in other comedies (even the American Pie series had more humor and came across as more realistic than Mr. Woodcock) and has also done well in some dramatic/action movies, with comedic qualities in his performance, as in Bulletproof Monk and the Rundown.
She gives an excellent, scene-stealing, scene-chewing performance as Maggie, the press agent and "handler" for Scott's inspirational How To book author character, John Farley.Sarandon plays his mom and its an age appropriate role for her and she looks fabulous even as a past middle age adult mother in a small, mid-west town.
bullshit author and victim returns home and learns things about him self and makes teacher see the error of his ways sounds like a good serious movie.
Billy Bob Thornton has had some great roles, and some good films but I've still never been a huge fan but his performance as Jasper Woodcock is just awesome.
Also Susan Sarandon looking lovely as always plays Scott's Mom and Woodcock's fiancé much to Farley's dismay.
Mr. Woodcock (2007): Dir: Craig Gillespie / Cast: Seann William Scott, Billy Bob Thornton, Susan Sarandon, Amy Poehler, Melissa Sagemiller: Here is a comedy that is all too by-the-book yet it also presents a theme that many viewers will likely relate too.
Even though 'Mr. Woodcocks' has its moments, and a relatively 'scary' premise to boot, the film fails completely in its execution and writing.Considering its premise (and most of its cast, except for Sean William Scott and Ethan Suplee), this could have been a great black comedy, but one look at the poster and the title, and you know what time it is: a(n ultimately) simplistic and in the end (confusingly) moralistic tale that really strikes no cord at all, even if the potential shines through here and there.
Basically as a child John Farley (Seann William Scott) and all his other physical education students were almost tortured by the abusive and bully like behaviour of gym teacher Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thornton), grown up John has become a successful self-help book author and is returning to his hometown in Nebraska to receive an award.
Scott has only a hint of his jock character in his role as the formerly chubby boy turned thin teacher hating author, Thornton is certainly a good choice as the sadistic seeming teacher who may be trying to be nice but you're not sure, and Sarandon hardly has anything to do, the plot is pretty straight forward, a guy with a grudge on his nasty teacher trying to ruin the relationship with him and his mother, there are not many overly funny moments, it is a slightly disappointing comedy.
Seann William Scott is certainly not good and not really funny as John Farley, one of those fat ones that suffered the most with Mr. Woodcock but now he is not fat, he has fame, he is quite successful thanks to the crap he writes, self-help crap that changed the lives of many (losers, as Mr. Woodcock says).
I hate the characters (with the exception of Farley, it's nice to see Sean not play Stifler for once, he's the only good thing about this film), I hate the story, I hate the ending, I HATE IT!I'm getting angry just writing this..
I wasn't really looking forward to watching this, don't know why, didn't look like my type of film, but my bro rented it and i was pleasantly surprised, there are some very funny jokes in this film, and i mean funny, i love the way Mr Woodcock has attitude, that makes him even funnier.The plot it's self is pretty basic, John Farely realises that is evil ex PE teacher is going to be his new dad, and John goes to great lengths to stop the marriage!So overall, a decent comedy with plenty of funny, funny jokes!7/10.
Craig Gillespie directs this comedy about Mr. Woodcock(Billy Bob Thornton), the junior-high gym teacher from hell.
I wasn't expecting much but I enjoy Billy Bob Thornton, even in bad movies.
It is easy to just look at the slapstick comedy, but there is a deeper message about finding yourself, and about learning to accept others, even if they don't fit your idea of what is right.Billy Bob Thornton is Jasper Woodcock, tough as nails Jr. High P.E. teacher.