Two stars

"Drillbit Taylor" is an odd little picture in that it's a comedy that isn't all that funny, full of characters who are somewhat superficial, placed in a story that is best described as "disjointed."

Yet despite all of these shortcomings, "Drillbit Taylor" has a sweetness and naivete to it that makes the film tolerable at worst and mildly amusing at best.

Wade (Nate Hartley) and Ryan (Troy Gentile) are two friends eagerly anticipating the start of the first day of their first year in high school. The anxiety beneath their excitement is a desire not to appear "dorky" or uncool on that first day of school.

Alas, the super-skinny Wade and chunky Ryan would call attention to themselves even if they did not inadvertently wear the same shirt to school. Consequently, they and a dweeby little nothing named Emmit (David Dorfman) attract the attention of Filkens (Alex Frost), a marauding bully of an upperclassman.

Filkens' reign of terror over the lives of this trio inspires them to advertise on the Internet for a bodyguard. Enter one Drillbit Taylor (Owen Wilson), an Army vet discharged for "unauthorized heroism."

Unbeknownst to the boys is that Drillbit, in reality, is a homeless vagrant who lives in the woods of a nearby park and showers every morning on the beaches of Santa Monica. Drillbit sees the boys as poor little rich kids and their plight as a way to make some cash so he can buy a one-way ticket to Canada.

So Drillbit plays along with them, creating a mythology for his own life while offering Zen-like perspectives on how to deal with theirs.

All the while, he's fleecing the kids of what little cash they possess while scoping out their homes for future booty that can be pawned.

Drillbit even goes so far as to infiltrate the boys' high school, masquerading as a substitute teacher so as to provide protection during the school day. Taking the name "Dr. Illbit," Taylor also catches the fancy of an oversexed English teacher (Leslie Mann) in the process.

It's at just the point where it dawns on the audience that Drillbit is a bit of a creep that Drillbit arrives at the same conclusion. And it's because the three boys he's exploiting are so likeable.

Yes, the characters of Wade, Ryan and Emmit are geeky stereotypes, to be sure. But the young actors playing them are immensely watchable, if not believable. Gentile, Hartley and Dorfman make the insecurities and foibles of their characters real, even if the way in which they try to address them is a bit far-fetched.

On the other hand, Wilson's laid-back surfer dude attitude almost carries the day as Drillbit. But the actor is never quite that convincing at projecting himself as a seedy loser who could actually take advantage of kids.

The one character who is completely off-kilter is the psychopathic bully, Filkens. Playin Filkens with unbridled hostility and brutality, Frost creates a snarling, seething villain who would be more at home in a psycho-horror film than in a teenage comedy.

Credit such inconsistency in characterization to screenwriters Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen and director Steven Brill. Not only are their characters by and large superficial in nature, their story seems tired when it's doesn't seem familiar or formulaic.

Perhaps "Drillbit Taylor's" flaws seem more pronounced because Brill and company see their target audience as ninth-graders as opposed to adults. If so, 14-year-olds will be highly amused, while adults may find "Drillbit Taylor" to be little more than one of those "after-school specials."