Tuesday, February 17, 2009

MOVIE: The Promotion

Another great movie that I had never heard of until recently. The Promotion centers around two assistant managers competing for the same position. At 33, Doug Stauber (Seann William Scott) is ready for a promotion. He's married, wants to buy a house, and is assistant manager at a Chicago supermarket that's building a new store in his neighborhood. His boss tells him he's a shoe in to manage the new store. Then Richard Wehlner (John C Reilly) arrives. Transferred from Canada. Richard has a deeper resume than Doug, is really nice, has a wife and daughter, and wants the promotion to manager, too. How should Doug behave toward Richard - as a friend, a colleague, a competitor, or an enemy? Richard, it seems, has demons and a past, but with the help of motivational tapes, he's resolved to succeed. Fortunately, the competition gets ugly.

Great, light hearted comedy. A bit worn through and thin in some places. However the writing was fairly fresh, the dialog was entertaining, and the plot unfolded evenly thanks to some mellow pacing.  Not on par with Pineapple Express or The Wackness, but better than Nacho Libre.

Could be a good date flick for an appropriatedly moody couple. Almost safe for the kids, but not quite. Good rental for a slow weekend.

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