And of course, Drillbit himself turns out to be less than the boys expected, and there are a few more points to the plot than I've covered here, but they're not very important. Drillbit Taylor is a semi-funny, semi-interesting piece of work that fails more than it succeeds and will probably do pretty well on DVD.

Do not mistake Drillbit Taylor for a Judd Apatow film -- Apatow only served as producer. He didn't direct (who the hell is Steven Brill?), nor did he co-write (Seth Rogan shares that credit). I have to admit I got excited when I heard Apatow's considerable talent was somewhere behind this film, I just didn't realize how far behind. The movie will certainly not have the shelf life of Knocked Up or the slightly inferior Superbad, and it does not serve as a throwback to the days of "Freaks and Geeks" or "Undeclared."

Part of the problem with Drillbit Taylor is that there are a handful of peripheral characters who get too much screen time. The subplots they're involved in don't present much conflict, or perhaps I should say they don't present conflict the script puts much emphasis on. What these characters do is distract the camera crew from the real stars of the show -- the kids being picked on. Troy Gentile, Nate Hartley, and David Dorfman as Ryan, Wade, and Emmitt, respectively, inject as much life and comedy into the film as is possible, given the largely ho-hum script. They're being taken for a ride, of course, and the most fun you're going to have with this movie will happen before they figure that out. Once Drillbit's secrets are out, it's a trudge (not a dash) to the finish line, and you still won't be able to figure out why the script spent so much time on so many meaningless distractions.

The Bottom Line