Employee of the Month (2006)

Director:

Greg Coolidge

Writers (WGA):

Don Calame (screenplay) &
Chris Conroy (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

6 October 2006 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Romance

Plot:

When he hears that the new female employee digs ambitious men who are the store employee of the month, a slacker gets his act together but finds himself in competition with his rival, an ambitious co-worker.

Plot Keywords:

Slacker | Teen Movie | Salesclerk | Vulgarity | Rivalry

Awards:

2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sat. July 26	9:15 AM	TMC
Sat. July 26	7:00 PM	TMC

Cast

Dane Cook	...	Zack
Jessica Simpson	...	Amy
Dax Shepard	...	Vince
Andy Dick	...	Lon
Tim Bagley	...	Glen Gary
Brian George	...	Iqbal
Efren Ramirez	...	Jorge
Marcello Thedford	...	Semi
Danny Woodburn	...	Glen Ross
Harland Williams	...	Russell
Sean Whalen	...	Dirk
Barbara Dodd	...	Granny (as Barbara Dodd Ramsen)
Victor Izay	...	Greeter (Jerry)
Marc Mouchet	...	Gene
Kathleen Arc	...	Grumpy Lady

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor, and language.

Runtime:

103 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | DTS | SDDS

Certification:

Netherlands:AL | Australia:M | UK:12A | Singapore:PG | Finland:K-11 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #42914) | Portugal:M/12 | Ireland:12A

Filming Locations:

Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Company:

Lionsgate

Trivia:

In the Steaksmith's scene Harland Williams says that Dane Cook is just like the drummer from Reo Speedwagon, while their song "Can't fight this feeling" plays in the background.

Goofs:

Continuity: In one of the opening scenes, there is a large overhead shot of all the registers. You can see Vince, working in register one, but if you look at register seven, you can see Amy working as well. This scene is supposed to take place the day BEFORE Amy transfers to the new Super Club. The rest of this scene is shown later in the movie after Amy has been working at Super Club for a few days.

Quotes:

Russell: Oh yeah, that picture goes up on the wall she slides into the sack faster than a singed Koala bear looking for an all night burn center.

Movie Connections:

References Hindenburg Disaster Newsreel Footage (1937)

Soundtrack:

Can't Fight This Feeling

Basic but amusing comedy if you're in an undemanding mood

Zack is content with his job as a box boy at the Super Club supermarket, seeing the days through with the minimum of fuss and effort. The fact that cashier Vince is the exact opposite only confirms the daily choice that Zack makes not to care. However when a new employee starts in the very shapely form of Amy, Zack finds a reason to change his ways. Amy has a reputation for finding ambition attractive, so employee of the month and assistant manager nominee Vince is in with the best shot. Zack decides to win the employee of the month competition instead of Vince, getting the kudos and the girl – but at what price? You can see the potential here for great comedy. The story of the title is really just there to create a frame for a workplace comedy that one would hope learns lessons from Office Space and The Office in really getting down to the reality to find the jokes. Sadly it never really does this but the results are not terrible – just basic. The plot is quite obvious but mainly stays out of the way by being a frame for the action. The relationship stuff involving Amy doesn't offer much for the amount of time that it goes on for but mostly it does free up space for the workplace joking. Problem is that it is not as strong as one would have hoped and much of it is at quite a basic level and doesn't have much in the way of inspiration. It still is quite funny at times and it made for a very easy watch but if you are hoping for more than that then the film will disappoint.

The cast are solid but not up to the task of lifting it. Both Cook and Shepard are good enough to do the minimum requirements but not good enough to really deliver something special. The support cast pretty much matches this approach by having a "thing" about their characters that allows one gag but not having anything more. The end result is a basic film that never really excels itself in any regard. It does do the basics well enough to make for very easy amusement for the undemanding viewer but nothing more than that.