#140RVW
Mike Judge returns to the workplace comedy for the first time since Office Space. Exciting! Sadly, lightning doesn’t strike twice. Not good.
What’s more:
Jason Bateman is so likable. It’s hard to remember him before Arrested Development at this point, but that was a gutsy bit of casting. Now he seems to be synonymous with “nice guy”, even when he’s playing a jerk.
Mila Kunis is lovely and great at comedy. Kristen Wiig never disappoints, and JK Simmons is an underutilized gem. One of my favorite comics, TJ Miller is in it. So why isn’t this movie any good? Would it be over-simplistic to blame it all on Ben Affleck?
I joke, of course. I mean, Affleck is terrible; he always is. But he’s far from the problem with this one. The problem is Gene Simmons. Yes, that Gene Simmons. Seriously. The bassist from KISS. He turns in the worst acting performance by a bass player in a feature film since…wait, have any bass players ever been cast in a movie?
Really, it’s just not all that funny. And it had to be. There’s no story here worth having, nothing of merit but comedy. So it has to be brilliant. And it isn’t even close. Mike Judge made the funniest workplace comedy of all time in Office Space, so perhaps I was expecting too much. I don’t mean to overstate things or imply that this is a bad movie – it just isn’t good. At all…
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score: C (5 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Jason Bateman Joel, Kristen Wiig Suzie, Ben Affleck Dean, Mila Kunis Cindy |
| Rating | R |
| Release Date | Fri 04 Sep 2009 UTC |
| Director | Mike Judge |
| Genres | Comedy, Crime, Romance |
| Plot | Joel, the owner of an extract plant, tries to contend with myriad personal and professional problems, such as his potentially unfaithful wife and employees who want to take advantage of him. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 92 |
| Tagline | Working for the Man Sucks. Being the Man Blows. |
| Writers | Mike Judge (written by) |
| Year | 2009 |