Employee of the Month (2006 film)

Employee of the Month is a 2006 American comedy film directed by Greg Coolidge, who co-wrote it with Don Calame and Chris Conroy, and starring Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson and Dax Shepard. The film's plot revolves around two "super store" employees who compete for the affection of their newest co-worker. The film was shot primarily at the Costco store in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The film was released on October 6, 2006 and grossed $38 million.

Plot
For years, Zack Bradley has been working at the local "Super Club" as a box boy. He lives with his grandmother and spends his free time with co-workers Lon Neilson, Iqbal Raji, and Russell Porpis-Gunders.

Despite his slacker-like ways, Zack is kind-hearted, popular, and supportive. His rival co-worker and head cashier, Vince Downey, earns Employee of the Month for the 17th time in a row. Vince comes off as charming, but is egotistical and rude towards his co-workers, including his box boy Jorge Mecico, whom he berates constantly in spite of Jorge always showing him loyalty and admiration.

When new cashier Amy Renfro is hired, Zack and Vince fall for her and compete for her affection. Zack learns that she slept with the Employee of the Month at her last job, so he decides to win the title. Amy has dinner with Vince but is repulsed when he makes a move on her. Oblivious to how Amy feels, he thinks it went well and continues pursuing her. Zack begins putting more effort into work.

Within a few days, Zack realizes getting Employee of the Month is not so easy. However, he gets a date with Amy. When one of the cashiers suddenly passes away, Zack volunteers to take her place, which earns him an official promotion to cashier. Zack and Amy continue to grow closer.

Vince tries everything he can to derail Zack's efforts, even breaking into his house one night to reset the clocks; the sabotage causes him to arrive a minute late the following day but the plan fails. Zack retaliates by putting Vince's car up for sale for a cheap price, which is purchased by a customer. Vince concedes to give up his car in order to avoid getting a complaint. Jorge, who was promised Vince's car when Vince won the Employee of the Month prize car, severs their friendship as a result.

Zack takes Iqbal's shift on the day of a softball game against rival chain Maxi-Mart. However, he leaves to play in the game, and Iqbal is fired. Frustrated at Zack's new attitude, his friends tell him he is turning into Vince and feel his attempt at getting the title is a result of trying to have sex with Amy. She overhears and is disgusted at Zack for his true intentions, prompting her to reveal that she did sleep with the Employee of the Month at her previous location, but that she was already dating him and she broke up with him over his attitude, which was why she requested a transfer.

At month's end, Zack and Vince are tied. On the day of the tie-breaking competition, Zack quits, gets Iqbal his job back, and tells him he took responsibility for what happened. Iqbal accepts the apology, admitting that he doesn't need his job back because the news of his termination resulted in his wife asking for a promotion at her work successfully, so he is now a stay-at-home father for their kids. Zack tells them he plans to win the competition, not for recognition or to make an impression, but for pride. Meanwhile, Vince and Jorge make amends.

When the store manager is about to announce Zack's resignation, Zack, Lon, Iqbal, and Russell show up saying Zack never filed the resignation papers. (Russell bribed the human resources manager with a Butterfinger.) Zack tries to reconcile with Amy, giving a heartfelt apology and telling her that no matter what, he is a better man thanks to her. Despite Vince's protests, the competition for the fastest checkout is held. The Employee of the Month Award will be granted to whoever finishes the task first.

Vince beats Zack only by a few seconds but, during the award ceremony, Semi, the security guard, brings a surveillance video of the competition that shows Vince throwing store products behind his back and onto the conveyor belt without scanning them. The store's assistant manager gets the receipts for the scanned items in the competition, and Vince's is not only way shorter in length, but the total cost is also less than it should be. Semi adds that videos show that Vince has been failing to ring up items all year, which has cost the store thousands of dollars. Vince is fired and Zack ends up winning the competition and rekindling his relationship with Amy.

Six weeks after being fired from Super Club, Vince is on probation, working at Maxi-Mart. Jorge now treats Vince the same as he treated him. However, while they are both sitting in Jorge's new car, when Vince asks for a ride to the bus stop, Jorge agrees. He agrees to drive Vince to the bus stop, but he deliberately moves outside the range of Vince's court-ordered ankle monitor, causing the device to shock him.

Cast

 * Dane Cook as Zack Bradley
 * Jessica Simpson as Amy Renfro
 * Dax Shepard as Vince Downey
 * Tim Bagley as Glen Garry
 * Andy Dick as Lon Neilson
 * Brian George as Iqbal Raji
 * Harland Williams as Russell Porpis-Gunders
 * Efren Ramirez as Jorge Mecico
 * Sean Whalen as Dirk Dittman
 * Marcello Thedford as Semi
 * Danny Woodburn as Glen Ross
 * Barbara Dodd as Granny

Release
The film became the #1 requested film on AOL. The film opened to $11.4 million opening weekend at #4 just behind Open Season. The film was made on a $12 million budget and earned $28.4 million in the United States and $38.4 million worldwide.

In the United Kingdom the film debuted at #4 opening with over £1,000,000 in returns.

Home media
The DVD was released on January 26, 2007 and opened at #2 at the sales chart, selling 603,711 units which translates to $10.2m. As per the latest figures, 1,315,439 DVD units have been sold, bringing in more than $61 Million in revenue, exceeding its budget. This does not include Blu-ray sales or DVD rentals.

The 2007 region one DVD release of the film contains two commentaries: one featuring the director (Greg Coolidge) on his own, giving more technical information about the film; the second commentary features the director and star Dane Cook, who spends more time pointing out the origins of gags and actors throughout the film. The disc also contains extra improv scenes by actors Andy Dick and Harland Williams, an alternate opening with Eva Longoria showing Vince and Zack's first day on the job watching a video tape for new employees, an "At Work with Lon" feature showing Dick in character attempting to help to customers at Super Club, plus trailers for other Lionsgate films.

Reception
Employee of the Month was poorly received by both critics and audiences. The film was considered by Screen Daily and Ann Hornaday derivative of 1999's Office Space and the TV series The Office sans the wit and "cutting satire" of either, but The Hollywood Reporter said that even though it was not as strong as its Mike Judge predecessor, it "manages to retain a certain goofy appeal thanks to the stand-up efforts of its comically adept cast members". Nathan Rabin and the Los Angeles Times were critical that the film made no attempts to tackle the drudgery of employment, nor deliver a plausible comedy film. As such, Slant Magazine deemed it a wasted opportunity to comment on consumer culture using its warehouse club location (a sentiment also shared by a TV Guide reviewer), as well as juvenile and offensive that "[f]rat boys and KKK members will surely love it." Screen Daily found the film uninteresting and its plot contrived and formulaic, but IGN described it as "a surprisingly amusing – albeit formulaic – piece of fluff". Although the Miami Herald said the film was indifferently directed by Greg Coolidge, they felt he had done so with "the same eye for detail that made Office Space great" despite lacking Judge's knack for creating fully-developed characters. Ultimately, Rabin called it dumb, mean-spirited, and a "colossal time-waster", and Claudia Puig felt that "you're bound to have more fun working overtime than watching Employee of the Month". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B−" on an A+ to F scale.

Many critics felt that the well-endowed Simpson gave a dull and wooden performance offset by her physical attractiveness,  finding her facial expressions on camera amateurish and ungainly. On that basis, Hornaday "emphatically" suggested that Simpson provided an example of a ditzy blonde, comparing her poorly with blonde actresses she cited for possessing not only sex appeal but also "warmth, goofy accessibility and superior comic timing": Doris Day, Goldie Hawn, and Cameron Diaz, among others. Of Cook's performance, Screen Daily and LAT felt that since he was constrained to play an affable lead role, this inevitably caused deviations in the comedic style he came to be known for: the raw humor and loose-limbed physicality. The result, they lamented, was a dull performance in stark contrast to one he exuded onstage. Conversely, Puig said that while Cook managed to adjust to "the kind of story that would befit Adam Sandler", he should have aimed for material that matched his comedic sensibilities. In addition, IGN and Screen Daily praised Shepard in an antagonistic role that harks back to that of Tom Cruise in 1988's Cocktail, with TV Guide going as far as to say he was "the star of the show" who should have been cast in Cook's role. IGN found the futility of his onscreen rivalry with Cook hilarious, while Puig said the feud itself was only mildly so. Rabin felt that Shepard could reprise his role as a dimwitted lawyer from Idiocracy in Employee of the Month, positing the latter film as "a symptom of cinematic de-evolution run amok", as prophesized by Judge's 2006 sleeper hit on society's devolution.

Simpson earned a Razzie Award nomination for Worst Actress, but lost out to Sharon Stone for Basic Instinct 2.