Since his highly publicised apparent suicide attempt last year, everyone’s been worrying about Owen Wilson. After all, it’s hard not to like the tousled blond Texan slacker after his consistently tip-top appearances in some of the most enjoyable comedies of the past decade. Yes, he’s pretty much always the same in every film he appears in, but so was Cary Grant. That’s part of the charm of the rare beast that is a true movie star.

Ever since his breakdown, film fans have been wondering what Wilson’s going to get up to next. Shortly afterwards, of course, came his sixth collaboration with the gloriously inventive director Wes Anderson, of The Royal Tennenbaums, Rushmore and The Life Aquatic fame, in the whimsical comedy revolving around regrets, relationships, love and death that was The Darjeeling Limited. It was wonderfully appropriate in subject matter, considering it was released in the US only a couple of weeks after his “incident”, not least because Wilson spends the entire film wrapped in bandages, recovering from a bad accident. But The Darjeeling Limited had been finished long before his suicide bid. The real worry was what would come next.

On the surface, Drillbit Taylor doesn’t sound too promising. A comedy about three bullied children who hire a bodyguard – the titular oddly-named Drillbit Taylor – directed by Steven Brill, the guy who wrote the dire Mighty Ducks series of kiddie ice hockey comedies and went on to direct the truly abysmal Adam Sandler vehicles Littly Nicky and Mr Deeds? It’s hardly the most exciting prospect.

The fact that post-production was going on after Wilson’s suicide attempt is likewise not overly promising. He’s the title character, after all. Surely he’d have been needed for reshoots and dubbing, at the very least? His other project going on at the time of his breakdown has been put on indefinite hold until he recovers, which sounds like a far more sensible option.

But let’s not forget that Wilson’s yet to put in a bad performance in any film he’s been in, because he always plays himself and the public love him for it. And let’s also not forget that this has been produced by Hollywood’s comedy genius of the moment Judd Apatow, the man behind recent smash hits Knocked Up, Superbad and The 40 Year-Old Virgin. On top of that, it was written by Seth Rogan, the writer/star of both Knocked Up and Superbad – where he played one of the two slacker cops.

In other words, first impressions shouldn’t necessarily count here. Yes, the director is a cause for concern, but with Wilson in the lead and a promising scriptwriter providing the dialogue and set-up, in which the bodyguard hired by the put-upon kids turns out to be, well, not quite what they expected, it would be silly to dismiss this in advance.

And, after all, this is an Owen Wilson movie – a full-on Owen Wilson movie, with no other big-name stars in attendance. That’s a surprisingly rare beast and one that his fans are sure to hunt down with relish. If you are one, you’re unlikely to be disappointed by this fun, silly bit of comedy fluff. Let’s just hope he recovers soon and brings us many, many more.


• Above: (Left to right) Three students, Emmit (David Dorfman), Ryan (Troy Gentile) and Wade (Nate Hartley) are terrorised by a school bully in Drillbit Taylor.