For years I've been wondering what ever happened to one of my favorite filmmakers of my adolescence, the great John Hughes. Where is he? Why did he stop making films? Why doesn't he give interviews? Has he gone Ted Kaczynski? Is he waiting for the Cubs to win a World Series? What is he doing?

Turns out, he isn't doing much and by not doing much he's doing harm to the industry in more ways than one. See, Hughes is partly responsible for Drillbit Taylor. Ouch.

The man who brought us seminal films like The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles, and Planes, Trains and Automobiles wrote a treatment for Drillbit Taylor eons ago. Instead of being kept secret and locked in an anonymous crate like the ark of the covenant, screenwriters Seth Rogen (whom I'm normally a fan of) and Kristofor Brown blew the dust off of it, opened the lid and the result was my face being melted off like that Nazi with the glasses as I sat there in a theater watching this sad state of affairs.

Maybe Hughes's treatment smelled funky too, I don't know. I do know that while his legacy isn't exactly tarnished (nobody really knows about Hughes's involvement anyway), he didn't help matters by letting this baby out of the pen. And I have to believe in my heart of hearts that if Hughes got off his couch, put down his Cheetos and got behind the camera he would have at least made something more watchable. I was exaggerating earlier: Drillbit Taylor won't make your face melt. But it will make you want to melt Owen Wilson's face for wasting his talent. Even on paper -- in Hughes' treatment form -- this movie couldn't have seemed very appetizing.

For me, this was all a big tease. A John Hughes tease. And not a very satisfying one at that. Teases by nature aren't meant to satisfy, I get that. But they are supposed to make you want more of something. If Drillbit Taylor is a tease of a Hughes effort to come, then the old man can keep up the hermitage. I'll always have my '80s memories.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Dre writes three times a week for Film.com. Email him!

Recommend (0)

|  Comments (0)

|  Email

|  Share

Share  Facebook Digg del.icio.us