Drillbit Taylor
Short takes
Not recommended under 13, PG to 15 due to the theme of bullying, violence, sexual references, drug references and coarse language.
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This topic contains:
- overall comments and recommendations
- details of classification and consumer advice lines for Drillbit Taylor
- a review of Drillbit Taylor completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 20 March 2008.
Overall comments and recommendations
Children under 13 |
Not recommended due to the themes of bullying, violence, sexual references, drug references and coarse language. |
Children 13-14 |
Parental guidance recommended due to the themes of bullying, violence, sexual references, drug references and coarse language. |
Children 15 and over |
OK for this age group |
About the movie
This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.
Name of movie: |
Drillbit Taylor |
Classification: |
PG |
Consumer advice lines: |
Mild violence, sexual references and coarse language |
Length: |
102 minutes |
ACCM review
This review of the movie contains the following information:
A synopsis of the story
Wade, Ryan and Emmit are twelve-years-old and
tend to stand out in a crowd, Wade (Nate Hartley) is tall and skinny, Ryan
(Troy Gentile) is short and overweight and Emmit is the “geek”. The film begins
with Wade and Ryan excited about day one of their high school lives. However,
the day turns into a total disaster when Wade speaks out against a psychopathic
school bully named Filkins (Alex Frost), and as a result becomes the target of
the bully himself. When day two turns out to be an even bigger disaster, the
trio place an ad in Soldier of Fortune
magazine to hire a personal bodyguard.
After interviewing a number of candidates, the
boys decide upon Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson), an ex army ranger who tells the
boys that he was discharged from the army for “unauthorised terrorism”. In
fact, Drillbit Taylor is a homeless person who begs for money, lives in the
park and showers nude on the local beach.
Drillbit deceives the boys into believing he can teach them army fighting
skills that will protect them from Filkins, while in reality he is stealing
silverware and iPods from their homes. When Wade receives another beating from
Filkins, Drillbit has a change of heart and decides to start really protecting
the boys. He dons one of Wade’s father’s suits and goes to school with the
intent of keeping a close eye on the boys. However, as soon as Drillbit sets
foot in school he is mistaken for a substitute teacher, setting in motion a
series of events that allows Drillbit to unleash some payback on the boys’
behalf.
Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.
Bullying
Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.
Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.
Drillbit Taylor contains frequent violence, some of
which is designed to be comical in intent, while other violence is presented in
a more brutal manner. Most of the film’s violence focuses on the bullying and
intimidation of younger students (twelve-years of age) by older students
(eighteen-years of age). The film also contains violence enacted by adult males
against other adult males. Examples include:
- Emmit, an undersized twelve-year-old boy is
roughly handled, picked up, carried and then forced into a small school locker
by Filkins (eighteen-years-old) and another older boy with the locker door
being closed on Emmit’s hand.
- Filkins and another boy humiliate Wade and
Ryan in front of other students by forcing the boys to wear the same T-shirt at
the same time (as if Siamese twins).
- Filkins grabs Wade by the throat in a
threatening manner.
- Filkins humiliates Wade by pushing him into
a urinal causing the front of Wade’s pants to become saturated.
- Filkins deliberately pours drink onto a
computer terminal Wade was using causing the terminal to short circuit.
- Drillbit sets fire to a student’s wooden
model in order to set off fire sprinklers.
- Wade has his pants pulled down in front of
his fellow students, his camera is deliberately smashed, and Filkins kicks Wade
while Wade is lying helplessly on the ground.
- A younger student sitting on a wheeled
chair is deliberately pushed into metal lockers.
- Wade, Ryan and Emmit discuss the idea of
hiring a bodyguard to beat up kids that bother them. The boys talk about High
school fights being brutal.
- Filkins drives a large, black,
high-performance car in a reckless manner while attempting to run down Wade,
Ryan and Emmit. When the boys escape behind a garage door, Filkins gets out of
his car and headbuts the garage’s metal door in frustration.
- When interviewing potential bodyguards, one
candidate asked whether they wanted the kid (Filkins) killed quickly, or
slowly, while another candidate opened his jacket to reveal an armory of
knifes. During the interview session a fight broke out between two of the
candidates resulting in the men punching each other in the face and one hitting
the other over the head with a bag knocking the man to the ground.
- A man tells Wade, Ryan and Emmit that he
hates kids like them.
- Drillbit tells Wade, Ryan and Emmit that he
is going to teach them how to kick arse.
- Wade, Ryan and Emmit talk about being
frightened by a Samurai sword that Filkins openly displays.
- In one scene Drillbit has Filkins and
another boy hanging from the ceiling by short ropes, Drillbit then turns on a
ball-serving machine that hurls balls at the rope dangling pair.
- While attempting to teach Wade, Ryan and
Emmit self-defence techniques, Drillbit is grabbed and tackled to the ground by
the boys, Drillbit hurls Ryan down a steep slope, and scares Emmit into running
head-on into a tree knocking himself out cold.
- Filkins punches Wade in the face knocking
Wade to the ground. Wade is later seen with a bruised eye and cheek.
- Filkins punches and pushes Wade
- Filkins punches Drillbit in the face, there
is a bone breaking sound and Drillbit’s nose appears obviously broken.
- A man punches Drillbit in the face. Drillbit
kicks another man in the face with the man hanging onto the door of a moving
truck and then falling off.
- Filkins insults Wade telling Wade that he
doesn’t have “any balls” and that he is “sackless”, Filkins then slaps Wade
across the face causing Wade’s glasses to come off.
- To practise taking punches, Wade and Ryan
punch each other in the stomach, face, forehead, back and the groin with Ryan
eventually falling to the ground.
- At a party, Wade and Ryan punch Filkins in
the face and then kick him in the groin with Filkins falling to the ground.
Filkins grabs a light stand and wields it as a weapon smashing wildly at Wade
and Ryan. Filkins smashes the light stand into a stairs banister rail smashing
the rail to pieces. Filkins tells the crowd that he wants to fight “both these
bitches” (Wade and Ryan). Filkins hits Emmit across the head knocking him out,
and punches Wade several times in the stomach. Drillbit arrives at the party
and calls a stop to the fighting. Filkins laughs and punches Drillbit several
times in the face.
- When Drillbit learns that Filkins is a
legal adult (eighteen years of age) he punches Filkins in the face and kicks
him in the head knocking Filkins to the ground. In retaliation, Filkins hurls a
Samurai sword at Wade, which Drillbit catches in midair saving Wade’s life.
Drillbit loses a little finger in the process; the finger being severed by the
sword and then run over by a car.
Material that may scare or disturb children
Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.
In addition to the above-mentioned violent
scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb
children under the age of five, including the following:
- Images of threatening looking men with mean
looking faces, gruff sounding voices and arms and shoulder covered in
tattoos.
- Towards the end of the film, Drillbit uses
his bare hand to catch a sword thrown through the air. After he catches the
sword, Drillbit’s little finger falls off, severed by the sword, and is then
run over by a car. Later the stub of Drillbit’s raw and slightly bloody finger
is briefly depicted.
Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.
Children in this age group are also likely to be disturbed by the above-mentioned scenes
Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.
In addition to the above mentioned violent
scenes, children aged eight to thirteen are particularly likely to be disturbed
by the level of bullying which occurs and the reaction of parents and teachers
to the boys’ requests for help, including the following:
- The school’s principal laughs at Wade, Ryan
and Emmit when they tell him they are being bullied and being called “Siamese queers”.
- When Wade tries to talk to his stepfather
about being bullied, his stepfather responds by asking Wade why you would want
to protect a kid from a bully, further telling Wade that it is the natural
order and that he was a bully at school.
Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.
Children in this age group may also be disturbed
by the level of bullying and the adult response to it.
Product placement
The following products are displayed or
used in this movie:
Sexual references
Drillbit Taylor contains a number of sexual
references including:
- When Wade’s stepfather enters Wade’s room
he tells Wade to get some chicks on the wall (pin-ups).
- In one scene a British/Colombian girl is
referred to a being a “potent mix.”
- Wade and Ryan are referred to as “Siamese
queers”.
- In one scene Wade and co referred to
Filkins and co as “gang bangers.”
- Drillbit tells Ryan to “watch his ball in
the morning.”
- Reference is made to a one and only “nut
hair” pubic hair.
- One man says he is not going to “bang”
another man.
- During a rap singing content, Ryan tells
Filkins to “…suck on my family jewels bitch.”
- A teacher asks Wade’s class to give him
another name for gonorrhoea, the teacher then refers to the disease by the
names The Clap and The Drip. The class is then show images of a gonorrhoea
diseased penis (image inferred rather than depicted) and the boys in the class
all cringe.
- Drillbit flirts with a female teacher, the
teacher refers to Drillbit as a “bad boy”, and tells him that he seems like a
man who can accomplish a lot. When Drillbit is called away he tells her that he
will be back in four minutes, the teacher tells Drillbit that she will keep the
couch warm and reference is then made to using a fire extinguisher to put out
the flames.
- Drillbit takes a female teacher out on a
date. During the date the teacher tells Drillbit how she is attracted to men
who are losers, dirt-bags, lying pigs.
Nudity and sexual activity
There is some nudity and sexual activity in
this movie, including:
- There are a couple of rear view images of
Drillbit nude taking a shower in public. Drillbit’s naked back, buttocks and
legs are shown.
- A couple of images of women wearing low cut
top with exposed cleavage.
- Filkins calls Wade a “bitch” and slaps Wade
on the bottom.
- Wade has his pants pulled down revealing
his underwear.
- Wade, Ryan and Emmit come across two high
school ages girls sun baking lying face down in their bikinis. The boys stop
and take photos of the bikini-clad girls with their cell phone. Photos are then
taken of Wade lying between the two girls.
- Drillbit walks into a classroom to find a
female teacher sitting in a seductive manner on a desk, Drillbit walks into the
room and the teacher jumps off of the desk and onto Drillbit wrapping her legs
around Drillbit’s waist. The scene then cuts to the female teacher walking out
of the room pulling down her rumpled skirt.
- During a party, Ryan grabs an unknown girl
by the head and kisses her on the mouth, the girl then slaps Ryan across the
face.
- Towards the end of the film, a high
school-age girl kisses Wade briefly on the lips.
Use of substances
Drillbit Taylor contains one instance of
mild substance use, and some drug related references. For example:
- Before a party Evan Ryan and Emmit each
drink a can of Red Bull energy drink.
- Reference is made a couple of time to
Caffeine Crunch breakfast cereal.
- While begging for money, a man gives
Drillbit some money (a note) and then asks Drillbit if is going to spend the
money on marijuana. The man writes on the note, “Not for pot” and then tells
Drillbit “You’ll feel silly if you buy weed with that.”
- While trying to sell stolen goods a man
makes the comment “Half your customers are crack heads.”
- Wade’s father makes reference to weirdo
friends having a “Marijuana Party”, and Wade’s mother asks him if he is smoking
pot. Wade’s parents make reference to him taking drugs from people at school.
Coarse language
There is some medium level coarse language
and put downs in this movie, including:
- Wade's stepfather refers to Wade’s room a
being a “nerds' paradise.”
- At various times, Wade, Ryan and Emmit are
referred to as “losers, dorks, bitches, “Jack-arse” and “Dirt-bag.”
- “Squeezing on my arse”; “You’ve got to be
shitting me”; “Crap”; “Oh Jesus H…”; “We
have to do this shit”; “Gang Bangers”; “Up yours”; “Kick your arse”; “Kiss your
arse”; Jerry bastards”; “Wash your ball…”; “large arse”; “Punk arse rapper”;
“You can suck on my family jewels bitch”; “Holly crap, you guys are retarded”;
“You’re a damn Hobbit”; “What the fu…..” (the ending sound of the word trails
off); “Loser magnet”; “lying pigs”; “Faganomity” (made up word that references
homosexuals); “Can’t polish a turd”; “All the shit is gone in my house”; “Billy
Jack someone’s arse”; “Get out of my house you arsehole”; “You don’t have any
balls, you’re sackless”; “Douche bag”;
“You hit me in the nuts”; “I want to fight both these bitches”:
In a nutshell
Drillbit Taylor is a high school comedy
based around the bullying of new students by older students. While the film
contains some humour, the film’s portrayal of the systematic bullying of
defenceless younger students by older students and the response of adults to
this, is far from humorous. As a result, some viewers may find Drillbit Taylor more
disturbing than entertaining.
Although Drillbit Taylor shows that individuals who stick together and
persevere can defeat bullying, the film contains more negative messages than
positive. Including:
- If you are being bullied at school the
bully will be believed and supported by the school system rather than the
victim.
- That bullying is the “natural order” of the
school ground, and that students should not support the victims of bullies, or
speak up against bullies.
- The only way to deal with bullies is by the
victims getting back at the bullies through violent means.
Parents may wish to discuss these messages
and the appropriate ways in which schools, families and individuals can deal
with bullying.