“Employee of the Month:” thumbs-up or thumbs-down?
Having never heard of Dane Cook until FU, I looked him up and could not stop laughing at clip after clip of his routines.
I expected him to be outrageously hilarious as I walked up the stairs to theatre number five. Toned down and censored, Cook still had his wit and ability to make people laugh, especially with his three coworkers and best friends, Andy Dick, Tim Bagley and Brian George.
The four are inseparable jokesters, always making fun of the cashiers who have their own lounge with free, un-dented water bottles and coke. Along comes Jessica Simpson, a hot new cashier who requested a transfer and who supposedly slept with the last employee of the month from her last store.
Across Fairfield, I have heard people say that they refuse to see the movie just because she is in it, I can understand why. I used to defend Simpson and I’ll admit, I liked her first two CD’s, but this seems like a mere attempt to salvage her career.
After her last popular song, “A Public Affair,” which was a public disaster, it is not surprising she took part in a movie with many famous individuals, to boost her reputation- as if the ratings for “Employee of the Month” were for her, rather than other popular actors that everyone loves. I’ve seen better acting in high school plays. It makes me glad I never saw “Dukes of Hazard,” and don’t plan to.
The movie is full of comical come-backs and two sentence wisdom scenes. Zack’s grandmother, Dane Cook’s character’s grandmother, Barbara Dodd, is one of the most interesting and hilarious characters.
Before Zack’s first date, she told him that he dressed nice, and not to forget to wash his balls. There’s also Zack’s close bud, Iqbal, Brian George’s character, who had twenty-two children, who gives Zack his inspiration and drive, while taking a break outside to pass gas.
You will laugh and smile and maybe scowl at Jessica Simpson’s attempt to act. Finally, a semi-original plot- there may be a lot of guy-vs.-guy-for-a-chick scenarios, but how many of them are between the head cashier and the ten years running box-boy in a knock-off Kirkland/Costco wholesale warehouse? By the way, there were actual “Kirkland” items seen for a moment in the warehouse, along with the exact replica of Costco, all the way down to the layout of the store, prices and specials in the mini-eating area.
While being able to have your own clubhouse that takes a lifting machine to get to, with tables, futons, and unlimited “broken” candies and “dented” sodas, Zack still has secret dreams of being able to swipe into the Fort Knox, Holy Grail of the Super Club, where he wouldn’t have to purposely break candy bars in order to eat them, and could get as many perfect and free bottles of soda or water as he wants.
The desire to get into Amy’s (Simpson’s) pants, helped drive him to attempt to stop the number one cashier, Vince, Dax Shepard’s character, who just broke the record for the region’s fastest hands an is known as an arrogant, womanizing jerk, from being the Employee of the Month for eighteen months straight.
This leads to pick-pocketing, near-concussions from moving trucks and permanent ego damage along with a nice amount of chuckles and a dash of sincerity.
If you are bored, or if you like Dane Cook, then this movie is recommended, providing that you don’t mind Jessica Simpson’s bad acting and fake boobs.
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