Afternoon:
10°c
Evening Standard rating
From beach bum to bodyguard
27 Mar 2008
Judd Apatow, who produced this comedy, is clearly spreading his talents thinner and thinner. Any resemblance to either The 40-Year-Old Virgin or Knocked Up is purely coincidental.
The chief interest lies in Owen Wilson, cast in his first part since his heavily publicised personal problems. He is Taylor, a ne’er-do-well, patrolling the LA beach area, begging for money.
Also on the beach are three high-school nerds: Troy Gentile is the fat one, David Dorfman is the shrimp and Nat Hartley the tall, skinny one. Bullying is certainly not funny, but what happens to them raises a few laughs, particularly when the headmaster summons the bullying boy and believes every word he says.
The only thing they can think of doing is to hire a bodyguard. Which is where Wilson comes in — and it’s only his oddball, improvisational playing and some natural work from the kids that saves the film from cliché. On the whole it is a grave disappointment, taking the easiest dramatic options all the way through. It’s about as blunt as Bad Boys, another of Apatow’s producing efforts, was sharp.
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