Employee of the Month DVD Review:

From the very first scene of Employee of the Month I was completely captured. It was dark and humorous with a hint of film noir. From that first scene I was even more pleasantly surprised as the film continued and there were numerous hilarious scenes. Up until the last fifteen minutes of the film I was sure that Employee of the Month was going to be the kind of film I recommended to everyone I knew. Unfortunately, as soon as the film hits the climax, it turns away from the dark comedy and into a horrible web of twists that are completely unsatisfying, partially because they have all been done before.

David Walsh (Matt Dillon) has his life set, he has a great job and he is engaged to a beautiful woman (Christina Applegate), until he has the worst day of his life. For vague reasons he is fired from his job, and a dinner with the soon-to-be in-laws turns into a strange break-up. Having lost his fiancé and job in one day, David turns to his childhood friend, Jack, for advice. Jack is a classic screw-up, and from there things only get worse for David.

Jack is played by Steve Zahn, who expertly handles the comedy, stealing every scene he is in. One of the best scenes in the film is one in which Jack is talking on the phone with David, giving him advice, while victims of an accident are burning alive nearby. It may sound morbid, which it is in a way, but the comedic delivery by Zahn is so natural that the scene works fantastically. Without Zahn this film would have been an entirely different kind of film, and perhaps more fitting to the ending, but it wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun getting there.

The simple fact is that as much as I liked the film up until the climax, I felt manipulated and cheated by the weak excuse of an ending. Suddenly the genre changed and so did the mood. Even if I had liked the manipulations, there were so many holes in them that it makes viewing the film a second time completely unsatisfying, which would give no cause for anyone to buy the DVD rather than just rent it.

The DVD boasts in more the fact that the film was an official selection at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival. Although the film has some great moments and comes highly recommended from me for the first hour, I am disappointed that a film with such an unoriginal ending would take any awards. It seems to me that there must have been a more “independent” film that was more original and perhaps more deserving. If this was as good as there was perhaps it was a slow year at Sundance.

The DVD has an original cover, with a fairly dark picture of a man with a paper bag over his head, holding a gun. It grabbed my attention and made me want to see the film. The DVD menu is also fairly creative, although not as fitting with the film as it could be. The menu looks more fitting for Office Space than Employee of the Month.

As for special features, there are two, other than the fact that the film comes in widescreen. There is a theatrical trailer and there is a photo gallery. Neither are all that exciting. The film was written and directed by Mitch Rouse, known for the television show Strangers with Candy. Some sort of input from him on the DVD might have increased its quality.

Ryan Izay

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