Am I Missing Something?

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

Based on a story by Edmund Dantes (John Hughes of 'Breakfast Club' fame) this is a decent enough film starring the always entertaining Owen Wilson.The premise is fun, it allows Wilson to play to his strengths, and the young cast all bring something great to their roles.My problem with the film is that it doesn't seem to know whether it is aimed at a kid/adult market. The fact that Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen are involved leads you in one direction, and then the jokes lead you in another.It's an average but fine film.

I am sorry but this is a very laugh-less comedy film. John Hughes might be the person known for making such movies like "The Breakfast Club" and "Ferris Beuller's Day Off". He has done some pretty good movies and at times, considering the subject matter - can display some good messages. So I know that he could have done better. But then again he did write the story and not the screenplay so it could be the others fault.First of all the message is awful. For a movie about bullying you can actually create a good message. It seems to be "resort to raw violence because hardly anyone will do anything about bullying and the bully won't face any real punishment." Where do I begin to criticise? I have been bullied myself. If the act is as serious as (I kid you not) BEING RUN DOWN WITH A CAR then surely SOMEONE would look into what was going on. Are they seriously telling me they're portraying every adult figure (besides Drillbit - but even then that's sketchy) as "Oh... you've almost been run down with a car. Well move along I have more important things to do".Okay I was just ranting in that last paragraph so I'll go on. I don't like the premise. Three kids hiring a bodyguard to defend a bully (which even after the kids tell their parents they do nothing!!!!... Sorry, did I mention I REALLY hate how people are portrayed. I just haven't said it enough) under everybody's nose and someone accepts. he seems to be unorthodox and poses as a substitute teacher (I would insert laugh icons for how ridiculously stupid this is but I can't). The Bully continues to bully them and never face a real punishment (FOR RUNNING THEM DOWN WITH A CAR, TOSSING SWORDS AT THE KIDS AND BEATING THEM TO A BLOODY PULP). Then we find out he is not a bodyguard but a homeless man that showers on the beach. When the kids pick a fight with the bully at his house (??? Is there anything in this movie that makes sense?) Drillbit finds out he can hit him without any negative consequences because he is 18.That is a big complaint, the ending. The kids basically walk off into the sunset after the bully WHO TRIED TO KILL THEM MORE THAN ONCE IN THIS MOVIE AND NOBODY DOES ANYTHING ABOUT IT (did I mention I hate how people are portrayed in this? because I don't think I've hammered this in enough). Drillbit knows he can hit him because he is 18 based on the word of a teenager (how does he know they're not lying?) and the bully nearly kills him by tossing a sword at him, A SWORD. It ends with him being arrested and everybody lives happily ever after.Would I recommend this? Only if you want all faith in people like Seth Rogen as a writer to be sodomised and buried. Playing something like this out for laughs could be done, but then again it's produced by Judd Apatow and to expect anything good from him is like expecting deep meaning, symbolism and art-house from Michael Bay and Roland Emmerich.

Sadly, even "The Piano" is funnier than this. Like so many failed comedies, it's actually got a funny premise -- bullied high school kids hire hard-ass bodyguard, who is actually a beach bum just pretending to be a martial arts soldier-of-fortune. Has a lot of potential. And the actors could have borne it out. Unfortunately, making a comedy is a lot harder than just throwing a few handfuls of funny material together, and mixing it well. This comedy just didn't make it from the studio signing up to it to the screen.Did John Hughes really work on this? Maybe there was a reason why he wouldn't lend his name.

If you watched this movie and at the end DIDN'T know why kids went on shooting rampages back around the turn of the century and commit suicide now, then you are completely ignorant to bullying in schools and the effect it has on victims.I first saw this a couple years ago as a lead in for a special showing of the Get Smart reboot, and I was ready to walk out less than a half hour of this thing starting and not come back for Get Smart.It showcases the things that bullying victims often go through: a relentless tormentor, parents who are unwilling to listen to their problems or refuse to believe them, and a school that refuses to defend the victims, even at times SIDING WITH the bully. It also shows the desperation that victims go to in hiring someone to protect them because NO ONE else will.The three kids tried to do the right thing until the point where Owen Wilson comes in. They tried to deal with the problem themselves, to talk to their parents, and to the school administrators. What they did and went through is a reflection of what bullying victims go through, in that they see no out from their problems and try to resolve it in the worst way. This movie tries to make light of people who are victimized and whatever moral the writers were shooting for was LOST.The bully at the end got what was coming to him to a point: He was just arrested and shipped off for his parents to deal with; but there was no real punishment shown, which is the giant flaw of Apatow and Hughes' work. If a person (the antagonist) has gotten to the point where they're torturing students and manipulating adults into thinking that his actions are pure, then he cannot be simply "fixed" by his parents punishing him. He is a psychopath.It is sad that this is John Hughes' last film, as it is a sour note to go out on. 1/10, and it's only because I can't give it a 0/10.