Ryan, Wade, and Emmit are three nerdy kids just beginning in high school. On their first day, they are unfortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Filkins, the school bully, and his sidekick, Ronnie. They have no clue how to stop him themselves, so Wade comes up with the idea of hiring a bodyguard. They interview several interested applicants before settling on Drillbit Taylor, a former mercenary who knows kung fu... or so he says. In reality, unbeknownst to them, Drillbit is a homeless man bent on stealing from the kids in order to raise enough money to make a better life for himself. At first, Drillbit's advice is basic: try to befriend Filkins, then he'll stop bullying you. Unfortunately, when they try to hop on his common interest of rap by engaging in a rap battle, he ends up beating Filkins so badly and publicly that the embarrassed Filkins is even more personally furious at the geeks. They decide the easiest way to have Drillbit watch their backs is to bring him to the school, where he'll pretend to be a substitute teacher and thus can covertly follow them around in the halls. While doing so, Drillbit meets a lovely teacher named Lisa and falls in love. However, when Ronnie catches Drillbit taking a shower at the beach and figures out Drillbit is actually homeless, Filkins beats him up and it makes the nerds' lives worse. Even more upsetting is when they find Drillbit's homeless friends looting their home. They fire Drillbit, and they realize they must stand up for themselves once and for all and fight Filkins, even if it kills them.
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Best part of story, including ending:
This is a charming enough film for young boys-- it never really breaks any new ground, but the boys are funny young actors and Wilson has his shaggy dog appeal.
Best scene in story:
Drillbit's first day at the school pretending to be a teacher gives Wilson an opportunity to show up some creative lying ability.
Opinion about the main character:
One can't help but sympathize for our nerdy underdog leads, though the script lets them down somewhat as they aren't terribly memorable on their own.
