“Employee of the Month”
Director Greg Coolidge
Lionsgate
With a token hot blonde, a Mr. Popular and an underdog trying to
get the girl, “Employee of the Month” has all the
makings of a teen movie ““ except instead of teenagers in high
school, it’s about 20-somethings in a retail warehouse. While
the perspective may be refreshing, the plot is as tired as the
“Bring It On” sequels and as unoriginal as, well, any
other teen movie. Dane Cook, better known for his stand-up comedy,
plays Zack, a slacker Super Club box boy who suddenly improves his
work ethic once he learns that the attractive new cashier, Amy
(Jessica Simpson), only dates employees of the month. In a scene
strangely reminiscent of “Mean Girls,” Cook confronts
the friends that he abandoned in order to work his way up the Super
Club food chain. They reject his apology and charge that he has
“become one of them, and the worst part is you don’t
even know it.” Cook replies with a Lindsay Lohan-esque snort
of denial. Despite his comedic experience, Cook’s jokes never
pack a punch. Instead, Dax Shepard (“Punk’d”) and
Efren Ramirez (“Napoleon Dynamite”) steal the show. But
even Ramirez, for example, clashes with the more aggressive comedy
of veterans such as Andy Dick. If only one cast member were allowed
to receive acting classes, that honor would undoubtedly go to
Jessica Simpson. Keeping her acting talents in mind, director Greg
Coolidge makes a noticeable effort to make Simpson seen, not heard.
It is possible that the movie is intentionally corny in the
interest of being funny. After all, Coolidge resorts to cheap gags:
A bratty child screaming, “Bring it, bitches,” hits
Cook in his sensitive area with a high-velocity tennis ball, and
each major character passes gas at least once during the film.
It’s not like these standard gags don’t entertain;
they’re worth a few laughs. The jokes in the film are funny
but fleeting. In this way, “Employee of the Month” is
akin to a drunken night: You’ll have fun for the time being,
but you won’t remember anything the next morning. And maybe
it’s better that way.
E-mail Stanhope at kstanhope@media.ucla.edu and Leano at
kleano@media.ucla.edu.