Director Todd Phillips and his long-time writing partner Scott Armstrong scored well with Old School in 2003, but their formula of 'frat boy' japes and geeky romance hit wide of the mark in School For Scoundrels. Despite the combined talents of Jon Heder and Billy Bob Thornton, this remake of an old British rom-com (1960) came off as "half-baked" and barely caused a ripple at the box office.

Charm School

In a run-of the-mill 'Making Of' featurette the lads do the inevitable 'crazy comedy guys' thing of politely putting each other down and generally talking nonsense. Heder says of Thornton's portrayal, "He brings a slimeball, greasy quality to it," while Thornton remarks that once he heard Heder was involved, "I couldn't wait to bend him over a rail and cook him a steak on the campfire, if you know what I mean." (Frankly, we don't, but it sounds dirty and wrong.) They also take turns to slam Phillips and his pet dog Tucker, who wanders around the set sniffing b-list crotch. There's also a quick probe of the tennis scene where it turns out the actors were so rubbish, the ball had to be added in with CGI.

More balls are dropped in a two-minute gag reel and there's an alternative airport ending that really puts the 'eesh' into cliché. Heder goes as far as to utter the immortal line, "Don't get on that plane!" Somebody call security…

Comedy 101

In the commentary, Phillips and Armstrong offer a few insights into their writing process. "We write for an actor," says Phillips, on this occasion designing the film around Billy Bob Thornton's lizard cool persona. He adds that it was Harvey Weinstein who sparked the idea years ago, showing him a copy of the 1960 comedy starring Terry-Thomas. When it comes to the shooting, the director talks about allowing the actors to improvise - although he adds that after four or five takes "it can get stale". And he highlights the importance of editing because, "The editor is in control of the timing for every single joke."

It's an interesting ramble through the film in terms of revealing the mechanics of comedy, but when the results are so tepid, you have to take it all with a pinch of salt. If you're expecting anything more than the occasional chuckle from this DVD, you'll feel cheated.

EXTRA FEATURES

School For Scoundrels DVD is released on Monday 25th June 2007.