Had no intention of seeing this but was pleasantly surprised by the film. Its Apatow lite and it surprisingly works well without the R rated vulgarities. The three kids are tween versions of Cena, Hill and McLovin from Superbad and work off each other quite well. I thought the creepy geek midget kid was familiar and now I realised he was Naomi Watts' creepy kid in The Ring.

But in the end its Wilson that lifts the film with a good performance as Drillbit Taylor. Its good to see him acting again after his recent problems.

Many here who love Apatows films will probably feel dissapointed - but I quite liked it. Its funny and endearing.

Grade: B

I was highly disapointed at this Superbad prequil, there are a few funy moments, but overall its boring

C

Just as solid as all Judd-related movies from last year. More people need to see this!

^not even close, this prequil to Superbad, is no where near close to Superbad or Knocked Up

Yeah, I have to go with Sky on this one. As much as I was hoping that this film would be another in a string of hilarious Judd Apatow/Seth Rogen comedies, this one just doesn't come close to being as good as those. I thought it was okay and it did provide a few laughs, but anyone expecting anything of the quality of Virgin, Knocked Up and Superbad are going to be disappointed.

**½

My review is also up on the main site.

WAY funnier than I expected, but it's the weakest Apatow effort so far because of a very unrealistic plot (something he has managed to avoid with his past films) and even more unrealistic villains (those guys were effing murderers, not school bullies). However, Owen Wilson led the way with charm, and the kids were nearly as funny as the Superbad trio, even if it sucked how obviously they were derived from said trio. It could have been a lot better with some more careful handling, but boy does it deliver in the humor department.

B

No, this was rather lame. I'm not even going to associate this with Judd Apatow. Really, really boring; I couldn't wait for it to end. A laugh or two, maybe, but I already forgot about it.

*

Agree. This pretty much sucked.

It started off good, then got horribly boring and it ended just plain bad. So unfunny.

D+

Solid comedy. Owen Wilson is very charismatic and easy to watch. I wasn't nonstop LOL'ing, but I was always amused/smiling and it had a handful of big laughs.

B

Yep, a solid comedy. I actually liked most of the characters. The kids were particularly impressive and the bullies seemed realistic (until near the end).

B-

Favorite part: "Gimme so' Brooks 'n Dunn. Alabama."

Drillbit Taylor

Well, I enjoyed watching this. The first half is interesting and presents itself as something that could be a fun watch later on, but the second half is kind of lame. It just feels like it was made for kids. I did not laugh once. But Owen Wilson is hugely watchable. I suppose it feels like a G-rated prequel to Superbad. What I enjoyed most was just watching how they con people and get money early on. That was more interesting than the whole bully thing.

C+