New friends. An unfamiliar campus. More responsibility. For some teenagers, high school is a welcoming new experience. However, for those few unlucky kids who happen to differentiate from their peers in any way, high school may be four years of potential misery.

The main characters in Paramount Pictures' Drillbit Taylor definitely fit into the latter category. After barely surviving the first day of their freshman year, they realize their high school career is going to be very long and painful.

All within the first week, Ryan (Troy Gentile), Wade (Nate Hartley) and Emmit (David Dorfman) inadvertently manage to get on the bad side of the school's bully, a nasty kid named Filkins (Alex Frost). He vows to make them live their high school career in constant fear.

As their predicament grows progressively worse, they hatch the brilliant idea of hiring a bodyguard who can protect them from the school’s bullies. Enter Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson), a down-on-his-luck bum who plans on stealing the boy’s money and robbing them to fund his trip north to Canada for a fresh start.

As the story unfolds the boys begin to realize that Drillbit’s protection techniques are sorely lacking - Filkins only continues to terrorize them.

Even though Drillbit originally plans on robbing the teenagers blind, he eventually befriends the kids. He even sticks up for them when his homeless friends rob one of their houses.

While posing as a teacher, Drillbit Taylor finds the girl of his dreams on the kids' campus as the boys learn to fend for themselves.

With an expected comedic style, most of the humor in Drillbit Taylor derives from the boys' wisecracks. While not wildly funny, the jokes still pulled a few chuckles from the audience and were enough to keep them entertained for a few hours.

Slapstick humor aside, the film finds negativity in the depiction of the often cliché high school bully. Portrayed as almost inhumanly mean, Filkins and his cronies seem completely soulless. While this plot offers a perfect backdrop for the movie, the harsh acts of almost running down his victims with his black muscle car and heaving samurai swords at them are almost distracting because of the absurdity.

The actual storyline of the movie, while entertaining, seems to drag on at some points as well, perhaps because of certain implausible features. The movie also has the potential to show off Owen Wilson's comedic genius, as well as the inherent humor of Gentile, Hartley, and Dorfman, yet never quite strikes its goal.

The element that probably withdraws from the movie's humor potential the most is the sprinkling of crude jokes and profanity. However, while tasteless, the comedy found in Drillbit Taylor still pales in comparison to other recent R-rated farces directed at teenagers.

Of course, such comedy is almost to be expected from someone like Wilson. He tackles his role with convincing dedication alongside his teenage costars. Rough language and tasteless humor aside, the movie still remains the right amount of funny, balancing with more serious plot-lines.

In the wake of many comedies (such as the adult-directed Superbad), Drillbit Taylor stands out as slightly more family friendly, with fun humor and enjoyable entertainment suitable for high school students.

Drillbit Taylor is currently playing at all local theaters. The film is rated PG-13 for crude references and bullying throughout, so parents should take caution. For show times, visit Fandango. For more reviews, check out Rotten Tomatoes.