Billy Bob Thornton is still wearing his Bad Santa outfit in Mr. Woodcock. Instead of a grumpy store Santa or a gruff Little League coach (Bad News Bears) or a grizzly self-esteem instructor (School for Scoundrels), here Thornton is a grouchy gym teacher who runs his middle-school sessions as if they were boot camp. Seann William Scott plays one of Woodcock’s former students, a self-help guru who returns to his home town to find his childhood nemesis engaged to his mom (Susan Sarandon). Thornton is a master at callously insulting children – Woodcock has a hilarious disdain for any pupil foolish enough to bring asthma into his gymnasium – but each time he takes another one of these roles you forget what a subtle, dramatic actor he actually is.
