Employee of the Month
Runtime: 1h48
Starring: Dane Cook, Dax Shepard and Jessica Simpson
The basic outline of Employee of the Month is simple. Zack has been skating by in life for the past ten years when the woman of his dreams walks into his life and into the payroll of the store he works at, SuperClub ‘Where buying in bulk is our god-given right’. After a little research he finds that she likes to date the ‘Employee of the Month’, at which point his mission in life is to become the employee of the month. This might be relatively simple were it not for his co-worker Vince (Dax Shepard), who has won the past seventeen employee of the month awards and needs only one more to win a ‘brand newish’ car and get on the fast track to management. What ensues is a brutal – and hilarious – battle between the star ‘head cashier’ and the ‘lowly box boy’ to win the award, and the girl.
The acting by all of the main characters was very good. I was already keeping an eye on Dax Shepard (which is how I found this movie), and I might start keeping an eye on Dane Cook. Jessica Simpson’s acting couldn’t quite convince me, despite playing this role well. I’m not usually a fan of the harsh humor of Andy Dick, who plays a supporting role here as the nearly blind eyeglass technician Lon, but I found it to be a welcome supplement here.
The music and sound effects were done well. I enjoyed ‘Cobrastyle’ by the ‘Teddybears’ in particular, and apparently so did the director as it was played twice, once during the movie and once to kick start the credits. The humor is present from start till end, giving way only to help advance the story. There are some cheap jokes, a few thinkers and quite a lot of mudslinging between the head cashier and our hero the box boy. The moral of the story – at least what I gained from it – is two-fold. It tells us to stick by our friends, and they will stick by you. It also tells us to do our best to be all we can be, while remaining true to ourselves. To paraphrase the movie: ‘Do it for yourself first, and the rest will follow’, sound advice in my mind.The storyline is consistent throughout the movie, and I could only manage to think of one illogical point. The movie shows us a cashiers lounge, unavailable to other employees including Zack’s circle of friends. To rectify this situation, they have set up a makeshift lounge up high in the racks of the store, accessible only by forklift. The problem here is that all the rows are two racks wide (an aisle, and a rack; another rack, another aisle, …), whereas their lounge would need four racks (a wall rack, an empty ‘lounge’ rack, another empty ‘lounge’ rack and another wall rack). It’s not impossible, but it just doesn’t make any sense, particularly so after they show us a shot of most of the store where all racks are grouped by two. Still, it’s a mere pet peeve considering it has no impact on the story, and if you’re looking for a logical story, comedies aren’t the best place to look for it. Having seen this movie several times in the few weeks I’ve had it, I can only highly recommend this little known gem. The only reasons that I can think of not to watch this movie is if you dislike comedy, or if you’re a disliked head cashier afraid to see box boys overturn your tight grip of control 
