Indie Review: THE PROMOTION

THE PROMOTION



Starring- Seann William Scott, John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Gil Bellows, Lili Taylor, Fred Armisen, Rick Gonzalez



Directed by Steve Conrad



Grade: C+




"Black apples?"
"I said... bad ones? Blapples?"

Workplace comedies have been inconsistent. The rise of such have been attributed to the great, cult classic Office Space, and NBC's The Office, both shining examples of the mind-numbing tediousness of which we call middle-class life. But other times comes trash such as Employee Of The Month or Fred Savage's Working. The Promotion is a small budget, little slice of film that neither caters to the PG-13 crowd that flocked to see Employee, nor the infinitely quotable "So true!" films and television shows such as The Office. Instead, it jockeys for a middle management position in independent film purgatory.

Seann William Scott stars as Doug Stauber, an assistant manager of a Chicago area supermarket. He's of that nebbish quality, a 31 year old who's realizing he's never going to change the world, so a promotion as full manager to a nicer store opening up a few blocks away would really do wonders on his psyche. He has a loving wife (The Office's Jenna Fischer, perfect for that non-Hollywood pretty look), but they deal with the daily hassles surrounding them, everything from her self-effacing boss to homosexual banjo players in the apartment next door. And that doesn't even begin to detail his problems at the particular store he works at.

His clueless but well-meaning manager Scott (SNL's Fred Armisen) considers him a "shoo-in" for the new job. That is until a new assistant manager from a Canadian subsidiary grocer comes in. Richard Wehlner (John C. Reilly), with his easygoing personality and previous experience becomes the new favorite almost immediately. It's easy for Doug to hate Richard, but soon he realizes Richard is more or less in the same position he's in, and like Doug, has a few shortcomings that will be exposed over the course of the film.

The Promotion is strikingly similar to Chaos Theory, another quirky indie comedy that made rounds in film festivals before being unceremoniously dumped into select theatres this year. Both films pass themselves off as a straight comedy, but as the trailers for both just begin to indicate, there's a serious dramatic tone that dares to overshadow the comedic element. Indeed The Promotion has some humorous moments, and the pathos director Steve Conrad mixes in could have been done worse by a commercial director. But the final product is wildly uneven, which could be the reason it got short-changed in its release schedule.

One moment there's a scene of deep thought about the prevalence of middle class life. Next there's a joke about masturbation. For every seemingly sharp acerbic wit joke, there's an uncomfortable shift in either gross-out humor or dramatic contemplation. The Promotion in general as a film isn't comprised of toilet humor, so when it comes up, it feels largely out of place. The humor isn't laugh out loud funny either, just a dozen moments of smiling chuckles, and that's if you can tolerate the almost borderline racist moments. Black, Hispanic, the mentally handicap, all represented in questionable formats (though the 'Black Apple' moment is probably the funniest part of the film).

No, the best parts of the film are actually the dramatic scenes of the characters' moral compass. It's nothing new at all, but when the comedy is lacking, at least the simple story of identity, family, and the American Dream is there. Conrad rarely sticks to the Hollywood convention of a "Scott vs. Reilly" scenario, instead playing them off as two separate, real characters who must fight for the same job for personal gain. It's admittedly a rare film where the protagonist (Scott) as a character is less likable as the supposed antagonist (Reilly). It's not that Scott's Doug Stauber isn't likable, but Reilly's Wehlner is such a harmless goof that you feel kind of sorry for him. At least Stauber you can envision landing back on his feet at some point. If the ending of the film wasn't so abrupt and unsatisfying, you'd imagine Wehlner being in a tougher spot if he doesn't get the job.

Most of the performances are above average, or at least adequate. Reilly is his usual movie persona, the lovable, sometimes dimwitted oaf. Fischer and Taylor, while pleasant, are pretty much non-entities as the men's wives. Armisen is quietly entertaining, as is Jason Bateman in an uncredited cameo. Scott actually gives his best dramatic performance to date (his FIRST dramatic role to date?). He's still got awhile to go before he goes Jim Carrey on the world, but like Ryan Reynolds in Chaos Theory, he proves that the potential could be there (looking at his upcoming resume, I'm guessing that won't be happening...). The only bad performance I'd rate is Gil Bellows as the head of the board of the directors choosing the new manager. He's too oily and over-the-top for such a low-key film that unassumingly throws out risque jokes.

The cinematography and the feel of the movie is really its strongest suit. Donaldson's, the grocery store, is crisp and clean in design, recalling one of those smaller grocers that cater to inner-ring suburbanites with a retro-modern 'friendly neighborhood' design. The film's contrasts between the vivid and the muted colors of suburban life give The Promotion a positive aesthetic look that sometimes distracts away from the disjointed mistakes crumbling around it.

The Promotion is typical independent comedy. Some good ideas, some bad ones, interesting casting, and a shoestring budget that proves that non-action films can be made to look nice without a budget the size of Myanmar's economy (I'm looking at you, Zohan). Sometimes it works brilliantly, sometimes it fails miserably, but usually, as this movie upholds, it's somewhere in the middle. And that adequacy isn't enough to make The Promotion stand out and warrant a raise to the mainstream cinemas.