‘Mr. Woodcock’ actor shows diverse talent
In the film “Mr. Woodcock,” Jasper Woodcock (Billy Bob Thorton) was the embodiment of evil for John Farley (Seann William Scott).
Woodcock was Farley’s middle school gym class teacher and the painful memories from those days still haunt Farley when he returns home for the first time in 13 years to claim a hometown award. This award, the “Corn Cob Key”, is for exceptional work outside of the community and the town wishes to award it to Farely.
When he gets there, all of his worst fears come true when he discovers that Mr. Woodcock and Farley’s widowed mother Beverly (Susan Surandon) are engaged.
Farley and his former friend Nedderman (Ethan Suplee) devise several plans to break the couple up but each plan backfires, placing the two of them in odd situations.
Throughout the movie, Farley has flashbacks of his terribly embarrassing days in gym with Woodcock.
The movie is relatively short but there are plenty of comical scenes to keep one laughing the entire hour and a half. In one hilarious scene, Farley and Woodcock have a free-for-all wrestling match in order to win over the love and respect of Ms. Farley. At this part in the movie, there is an interesting foreshadow of a wrestling match between the two of them when Farley was 12.
Seann William Scott has matured in this role compared to the perverted character always looking to get laid that he plays in the American Pie movies. Scott seems to have grown up.
With the moral noted at the end of the movie, the picture proved to be surprisingly good.