Employee of the Month

What a surprise! I can't figure out why I had not heard or read anything about this movie when it came out, because it was great. The whole thing was completely unexpected and had a sense of humor about itself, almost being a kind of self-parody. The characters were well fleshed out and the story took such surprising and hilarious turns. This is a movie I could watch many times and will definitely recommend it to friends. I won't say anything about the plot because part of the reason its so much fun is because its so unexpected. But instead of resorting to cheap unnecessary plot contrivances for the twists and turns(like Fight Club, for example!), it actually does have continuity, and we get the joke. Its just too bad this film didn't get more attention and advertising!

The film has its moments. It's got a rather nice plot. It's first-person commentary is interesting. Matt Dillon and Christina Applegate have both done quite well. The sequence before the bank robbery was very stylish and funny. It's sound editing is perhaps below average but the music is okay.

It's got endless plot twists in the end. After the first major twist I said to myself "Well, that's clever..." and after the second I was like "Wow! never saw this coming" and the twists continued on to a point where I got rather irritated. Plot twists are supposed to offer surprise elements in a story to see it from an entirely different point of view. But in this film, surprise is stripped off.

David Walsh (Matt Dillon) has a perfect life: a gorgeous fiancée, Sarah Goodwin (Christina Applegate); a beautiful house; a fancy car; a job of manager in a bank. On the day he expects to be elected "The Employee of the Month", he is fired; Sarah finds that he had an affair with his colleague Wendy (Andrea Bendwald) and calls off their engagement; and a hooker sent by his friend Jack (Steve Zahn) to stay with him in a motel steals his car. On the next day, in his farewell, there is a heist in the bank and he is abducted. But his fate before reaching Nirvana has not finished yet.

While watching "Employee of the Month", I was feeling the story very unpleasant, mostly because of the disgusting character of Jack, and also because of the jinx of David. But suddenly, the story twists with an outrageous and surprising plot point, becoming the perfect bad day of David a masterpiece of black comedy. When I first saw Matt Dillon partially burnt in the beginning of the movie, I believed the actor had had some accident, and only later it was disclosed that the scars were part of his character. The unknown Andrea Bendwald is really a very beautiful woman and has an important participation in the conclusion of the story, inclusive along the credits. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Dia Perfeito" ("The Perfect Day")

This movie is really pretty damn good right up until the last 10 minutes where we really spin out into ridiculous attempts to tie up every single plot string in under 10 minutes. The pace at which all the story lines come to an end is jarring to say the least and very unrealistic, improbable and - a gyp.

But I would recommend this movie because right up until that point it's a fun ride with great chemistry and casting of all the players. Dillon is a bank employee hoping for a raise on his upcoming review and looking forward to marrying his live-in girlfriend. This feels like an indie film but it's a bit too clever clever for it's own good.

Steve Zahn has some really awesome moments in this movie when he is ripping on everyone within talking distance of his character. His delivery was perfect. You will notice one of the actors from Kids in The Hall fame- his part matches what he is good at, that was an excellent casting choice as well.

So even though the script fumbles at the end, all the other parts of the movie work well.

Sunday night I was at a friends house playing cards, he popped in a movie he rented, none of us had ever heard of it, he said he got it because on the box it mentioned something about being 'from the producers of Strangers with Candy' & we're all fans of that darkly-odd kind of humor. It was kinda funny, in-fact really funny in some parts. I read that one reviewer here was 'dissapointed' but I think that's because he was told (ie: expecting) it to be more like 'Office Space'. I wouldn't compare it to that, except that it's about a guy who just stops caring about his job & his life starts to unravel. To me it was more like 'Saving Silverman' or 'One night at Mcools', but it was allowed to be a bit more 'Suicide Kings'-like in its gritty darkness mixed with humor. ( Some people don't like it when a movie makes a sharp-cut from surreal & silly humor to dark & gritty violence in the span of a few beats, but I think its fine, I *like that* I think it keeps the viewer's attention when it takes quick unexpected turns like that, but thats just me.) The only person from Strangers with Candy that I recognized was Stu ( the guy who has a beef ) but aside from wanting to see more SWC cast or writers, I enjoyed it & will rent it again and show it to others who like that kind of cynical-humor.

Matt Dillion was great in this, as he was in 'drugstore cowboy' 'mcools' & 'to die for'...his voice-over narration really set the tone for the whole story that was being told.