READ MORE: Alex Frost Q&A

PREMIERE'S REVIEW (posted 3/21/08)

Drillbit Taylor, the latest male-bonding comedy from Team Apatow, begins with an intimate, Juno-esque phone conversation between Ryan (Troy Gentile) and Wade (Nate Hartley) the night before the first day of ninth grade. Although not yet "superbad" enough to chart a course toward getting laid, they are completely aware that first impressions will define their high school careers. Cut to the next morning, when they arrive at the bus stop wearing the exact same novelty shirt, instantly branding them as chum for hallway-sharks. Director Steven Brill may seem like an odd choice for this kind of movie, having cut his teeth on Adam Sandler comedies, which are essentially bully-friendly — remember the McDonald's scene in Big Daddy where a snarling Sandler knocks a man's French fries off his tray? — but by leaning on Seth Rogen and Kristofor Brown's strong, memory-fueled writing and resisting the siren call of bodily function humor, he delivers a leisurely, intermittently charming film with a tolerable hit-to-miss joke ratio.

Filkins, the alpha of the two bullies, is played by Alex Frost, the sleepy-eyed school shooter in Gus Van Sant's Elephant. In some ways this is his more menacing performance, thanks to the now exaggerated age difference between 21 year-old Frost and his victims and the fact that, in a nice touch, the Cape Fear theme is played when he gets mad. The other bully, Ronnie (Josh Peck), is something of a non-entity but ends up claiming the movie's weirdest moment during an aside in which he's casually revealed to be the son of New York insult comic Lisa Lampanelli, playing herself. (Perhaps the film is trying to appeal to the all-important Friars Club roast audience?) Having dubbed Ryan and Wade "the Siamese queers" and being intensely proud of that burst of creativity, the bullies begin a campaign of locker-stuffing and other tortures, forcing our heroes to seek out a Gavin de Becker who can be retained for crumpled dollar bills.