Sunday, August 10, 2008

Employee of the Month (2004)

Recommended by Brian, this one played like a really good student film with top names. It offers dark humor, endless plot twists, high-wire suspense and an excellent cast, including Christina Applegate, Dave Foley and Jenna Fischer. Steve Zahn steals this scenes, but opposite Matt Dillon, it's a pretty good showdown.

David (Matt Dillon) and Jack (Steve Zahn) are old pals with very different paths. Jack is a con and David is a bank employee with a promising future ahead. When he unexpectedly gets fired, the day continues in the same vein. After his fiance breaks it off, David decides to change the course of his day...forever. At this point, you see influence of/similarity to Falling-Down (1993) where Mike Douglas' character becomes a vigilante. Dillon plays his character oddly but in the end as it all comes together, it makes sense. Zahn does insane extremely well. Some conversations in this movie are uncomfortably funny, such as when Sara is dumping David at a small restaurant while here parents are there at the table with them. There's also a scene when Steve Zahn is getting a lap dance and the stripper is telling him about a murder in her family on Christmas Day. You may suspect the ending, but not the first fake ending, nor the next and least of all, the real ending, but then again, after the first fake ending, you find yourself predicting what's next. Might be obvious but still...this is a fun one!

Themes: infidelity, revenge, bank heist

Director: Mitch Rouse

Country: US

Genre: Thriller/Dark Comedy

Minutes: 96 minutes

Scale: 3.75

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