As a comedy, 'Drillbit' not quite sharp enough

"Drillbit Taylor" (extended survival edition) - One of my favorite movies ever is "My Bodyguard," the 1980 flick about a henpecked kid who hires a hulking older student to protect him from bullies (led by a young Matt Dillon) at his new high school. I saw it at least three times in the theater, a practice reserved back then only for "Star Wars" films. I bring this up because my fondness for "My Bodyguard" had me looking forward to "Drillbit Taylor," a 2008 comedy that follows the same basic plot of that earlier flick and comes from the minds behind "Superbad," one of last year's best films.

Unfortunately, "Drillbit" disappoints. It's not nearly as funny as "Superbad," and it doesn't come close to matching the drama in "My Bodyguard."

Three nerdy kids arrive for their first day of high school, where they are immediately targeted by a pair of near-psychotic bullies. The kids look like younger versions of the teens in "Superbad": one is overweight with dark curly hair, one is tall and skinny and the third is small and hopelessly awkward in the McLovin mold. After enduring weeks of torment, the three decide to hire a bodyguard to protect them.

Enter Drillbit Taylor, played by Owen Wilson. Drillbit is a homeless slacker trying to scrape up enough money for an escape to Canada. He sees the three kids as an opportunity to score the cash he needs, so he lies to them about being an ex-military killing machine and promises to train them to defend themselves. Meanwhile, he takes their money and occasionally steals and pawns items from their homes. His scheme unravels just as he starts to genuinely like the kids, which spurs him to redeem himself in a final showdown against the bully.

After a funny opening, when it actually seems like "Drillbit" could be a winner, the movie devolves into a series of plodding, familiar teen-flick gags. Wilson's natural charisma isn't enough to make us care for the dullard he's been asked to play, and the adult supporting roles in the film - including the clueless school principal and an amorous teacher who falls for Drillbit - are underwritten stereotypes. All of which is surprising, considering the movie was co-written by "Superbad" writer Seth Rogen and produced by Judd Apatow.

The real high point in the film, actually, is a cameo by Adam Baldwin, who played the bodyguard character in "My Bodyguard." He's one of the people the three kids interview when they're looking for a protector, and his response ends up being prophetic: "Kids hiring a bodyguard to protect them from a bully? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard." In the case of "Drillbit Taylor," he's right.

As is usual for an Apatow comedy, the "Drillbit" DVD comes loaded with special features, including a conversation between the writers, deleted scenes, a gag reel and the famous "line-o-rama" feature, which shows the actors improvising different bits of dialogue. (PG-13; Paramount, $29.99)

"My Blueberry Nights" - This is Hong Kong director Wong Kar-wai's first English-language film, and it's a sweet, dizzyingly beautiful look at one woman's quest for love. Jazz singer Norah Jones plays Lizzy, a young New Yorker whose heart has just been broken. She finds some solace with Jeremy (Jude Law), the owner of a fashionable cafe who listens to her tale over a slice of blueberry pie. It's clear the two have a connection, but Lizzy decides the only way to get over her pain is to run away. So she heads out on odyssey that includes stops in a grimy Memphis bar and a cheap casino in Las Vegas. Eventually, though, her heart pulls her back to New York, where she'll have to confront her fears once and for all.

Wong Kar-wai is known for sacrificing realism in favor of beauty, and "My Blueberry Nights" is no exception. He drenches the film in cool blues and electric reds, and he often films his actors in a dreamlike slow motion. The plot might be conventional, but story is never really the point in Wong's films. He wants to capture a mood, a feeling, and he certainly does that here. The movie includes nice performances from Law, Natalie Portman and David Strathairn. (Jones, in her first role, struggles to generate any heat at all.)

Wong Kar-wai is one of the most daring and interesting filmmakers working today. If you haven't experienced his films before, "My Blueberry Nights" is a good place to start. The DVD includes a standard making-of featurette and a much more interesting interview with Wong Kar-wai at the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. (PG-13; Genius Products, $19.97)