Retro Review: Employee of the Month (2006)

Employee of the month

2006 

Cast: Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, Dax Shepard, Tim Bagley, Andy Dick, Brian George, Efren Ramirez

Genre: Comedy

Worldwide Box Office Gross: over $38 million 

Plot: A slacker competes with a repeat winner for the ''Employee of the Month'' title at work, in order to gain the affections of a new female employee

'Watching a Retail Comedy with Rarely Any Laughs Is as Tawdry & Predictably Dull as This One Gets'

A non-precursor to NBC's six- season run of the similarly-themed sitcom, Superstore, 2006's Employee of the Month may have been out of the block first, but in actual contrast, lacks the satirical bite and any real wit and insight into the endeavor and life in and around the world of retail; instead, the film pursues a love triangle subplot that doesn't fully convince, with easily forgotten supporting characters, nor does it connect with the audience as both Dane Cook and Jessica Simpson flatter to deceive, whilst Dax Shepard, who reminds me a little of Zac Braff, goes full-on jerk mode as the arrogant cashier, Vince.    

Cook plays a shelf-stacker who mopes through the warehouse at Superclub (a fictional name for a wholesaler. Examples of warehouse-based retail stores include Makro, Costco, Sam's Club, BJ's) -, only to find out he has to go all out in his efforts to attract a newly appointed cashier, who only dates guys who obtain 'Employee of the Month' status. Dax goes up against Vince and the pair battle it out for Amy's affections. 

The film is noted for being filmed in an actual Costco warehouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 

Employee of the Month could have been the big -screen Superstore; it ought to have delved into and explored the characters' story arcs, with considerable screen time allocated to each one, not just Dax and Amy's. Had the movie been an ensemble comedy (and ideally so), the story would have flourished. Yet as it wasn't, it didn't work, and the story's scope wasn't broad enough. As such, the story goes nowhere and is aimless. 

I work at Costco and at our warehouse, we have varied characters from walks of life, from different parts of the world with different personalities. I only imagined how much more relatable and better the film would be had Employee of the Month had gone for this approach, instead. 

It also suffers from the lack of genuine comedy and laughs throughout its runtime. it was so tame; I'm not familiar with Dane Cook's material, but even still, I was questioning whether he was the ideal choice for the lead. He didn't sell it. 

Final Verdict:

Caddyshack meets Superstore, Employee of the Month possesses none of the vulgarity of some of the other post-2000s comedies headed by the likes of Will Ferrell and Steve Carell, - something of which I liked; unfortunately, it is relatively bland that doesn't try to attempt to sell itself as a legitimate workplace comedy & with barely enough laughs to keep audiences tuned. Hence, shifting its focus away from being an observational comedy and leaning towards frat boy humour and being more interested in the battle between two employees over an attractive young lady.

I'd watch the seasons of Superstore, instead of sitting through this film.

Overall: