Reviewed by Neil Davey
Stars Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, Andy Dick, Timothy Bagley,
Dax Shepard, Efren Ramirez, Harland Williams
Written by Don Calame, Chris Conroy and Greg Coolidge
Produced by Andrew Panay & Peter Abrams
Certification US PG13 | UK 12A | Australia M
Runtime 103 minutes
Directed by Greg Coolidge
Extra, extra, read all about it. Jessica Simpson in actually-quite-good shock. With a less than stellar music career and a film CV that runs to, er, The Dukes of Hazzard and bugger all else, Jessica Simpson ran the risk of being famous for divorcing. However, there may yet be more to her than blonde teeth and shiny white hair. Or possibly vice versa.
In Employee of the Month, a hugely predictable but nonetheless enjoyable comedy, Jessica is Amy, the stunning new cashier at warehouse discount store SuperClub. According to her personnel file, she only goes for the Employee of the Month. That’s great news for checkout legend Vince (Dax Shepherd) as he’s won the “E of M” title 17 times in a row. It’s not such great news for slacker box-boy Zack (Dane Cook) though. Because he hasn’t.
However, with the love of a cute blonde at stake, Zack thinks that perhaps its time he stopped goofing around and testing the elasticity of the rules, and knuckled down to some good old fashioned hard work. And seriously pissing off arch-nemesis Vince in the process.Who will win? Er… who do you think? However, even though that’s not in doubt — and it’s not the only teen movie cliché that gets rolled out here — Employee of the Month does at least do it with a spark of originality, a frequently very funny script, a great movie in-joke — the store manager Glen Gary is terrified of his brother, Glen Ross — and, in stand-up comic Dane Cook, a very likeable lead. Best of all, there’s a wealth of comic talent in the supporting cast. The names won’t mean a lot — Efren Ramirez, Brian George, Andy Dick, Harland Williams, Danny Woodburn — but they will be familiar, albeit in an “ooh, what have I seen them in before?” manner. But hey, that’s what IMDb was made for, right?
Yes, it’s decidedly low-rent stuff and it won’t even register on many radars but there’s enough wit here to make it worth seeking out — not to mention Jessica Simpson taking the mick out of her own ears. A cult classic in the making? Possibly. It’s no Clerks, it’s not even Office Space but it’s closer to both than you might expect.
• Official Site
• Employee of The Month at IMDb