Ventura cuts up in 'Woodshop'

As an actor, Jesse Ventura's most memorable line was "I ain't got time to bleed." Given the ex-guv's latest star turn, he ain't got time to stretch himself, either.

In the straight-to-DVD coming-of-age comedy "Woodshop," the Minneapolis native plays a gruff former Army Ranger turned teacher grappling with detention students who dabble in explosives.

That's quite an array of personal touchstones for an erstwhile Navy demolitions expert, pro wrestler and college professor. Plus, it's a return to the film biz for a man whose aforementioned exclamation from the 1987 film "Predator" became the title of his autobiography.

"Woodshop," an independent production available Tuesday (42 Productions, $15; www.woodshopmovie.com), is a raunchier update of "The Breakfast Club," with less of that 1985 hit's wit and pacing, but some poignant moments. And, like Ventura's character, it has a sweet core beneath the coarseness.

Plus, there are a few good lines. Perhaps the most ironic finds Ventura's wood shop teacher asking the smart kid, "You ever think about going to West Point instead of one of those lib peacenik schools?" Turns out the lad's bound for Harvard, where in real life a few years ago he just might have taken a course taught by Ventura.