Product Description

In a hilarious take on life in mid-management hell, two junior managers at a Chicago grocery store vie for a coveted promotion, while their wives and their co-workers can only stand back and watch how far the one-upmanship will go to get the job done.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10182 in DVD
• Brand: GENIUS PRODUCTS INC
• Released on: 2008-09-02
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Formats: Color, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Spanish
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 86 minutes

Amazon.com
In its low-key, offbeat way, The Promotion represents such a relief from the onslaught of raucous, anything-for-a-yok comedies that one can't help feeling grateful. This directorial debut of Steve Conrad, who wrote the Will Smith comedy-drama The Pursuit of Happyness, offers a lot to like--ingratiating performances, some funny scenes and knowing touches, and actually being about something: the real-world dilemmas that go with needing a job and having a hard time getting or hanging on to one. But "low-key" is a friendly way of saying the movie's a mite slack, and the trouble with "offbeat" is that you can't always be sure there is a beat. Chief location is a scuffed-up supermarket in an inner-city Chicago neighborhood "where customers come first, even customers who are nuts," and local youth in the parking lot bedevil shoppers and staff out of boredom. The assistant manager, Doug (Seann William Scott, far from Stiffler mode), aspires to be given charge of a new, slightly more upscale market the company is opening. He's encouraged to believe he has the inside track--except who's this guy Richard (John C. Reilly), freshly emigrated from Canada and suddenly competing for the promotion in a deferential, north-of-the-border fashion that can't even be called passive-aggressive?

The stars deliver shaded performances that never turn buffoonish--even Reilly's aria of comic desperation in which the phrase "bad apples" takes an irretrievably ruinous turn as he speaks with some black civic leaders. They get yeoman support from Jenna Fischer and Lili Taylor in the underwritten roles of the rivals' wives, Fred Armisen as the guys' feckless superior, Gil Bellows as a psychobabbly corporate exec, and Jason Bateman in a cameo as a motivational speaker working a company picnic. --Richard T. Jameson

Customer Reviews

"Was I The Better Man?" ~ Dignity, Respect And Competition In The Workplace
With the likes of Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly leading the way ones initial response is this is going to be a great "guy film" filled with crazy, insane behavior and lots of scantily clad young ladies. If that's the evening you had in mind this is not the movie for you. The '08 film `The Promotion' is a rather wistful, slow moving story of the innate desire to succeed in the workplace yet remain true to who you are and what you want to believe about yourself. In other words it posits the question "Can you retain your self-respect and dignity while striving for upward mobility and financial security?"

Watching this rather unexpectedly low key film I found it somewhat disconcerting at times. Previously conditioned by other films I've seen with Scott and Riley I found myself anticipating something hilarious to occur and it simply never happens. When I finally came to the realization that this was to be something totally different for these two and attuned myself with the pace and theme as presented I discovered it was actually quite good though subdued. I guess that's my way of giving `The Promotion' a tentative approval.

Don't bother to invite the guys over for this one, save it for a quiet evening at home with the wife.

"My Grocery List Didn't Include Sexual Harassment, But Thanks" ...
Doug Stauber (Seann William Scott) and Richard Wehlner (John C. Reilly) find themselves competing for the same managerial position. Where most films would have one clearly likable character pitted against another nefarious one, this work takes no such short-cut. Herein resides the beauty of this piece. The Promotion is as much a drama as it is a comedy.

Just a short caveat: This is not your typical comedy, so the exposition may throw you off. Nonetheless, after the first ten minutes the film's playfulness begins to peek through ... and by the twenty-minute mark, the viewer is thoroughly engrossed. So, just let go of all assumptions and let Conrad (the director) guide your feelings.

At times, this piece is genuinely hysterical: the comment-cards, the shopping-cart gag, the parking-lot gangs ... all funny. At other times, it's deliberately uncomfortable: both men need this advancement, both men have families, both have our sympathies. The moments of tension are fairly intense. The betrayals are almost heart-crushing. But even in its darkest moments (there are a few), the viewer never wants to abandon the film. Its complexity is what makes this work so appealing!

Hey, I knew it was a great film when I heard Public Image Limited on the soundtrack (just had to say that). But it is the small details that add a touch of reality: the well-intended but entirely annoying neighbors (who play the banjo), the myopic supervisor (who thinks every minor infraction will bring-about the apocalypse), the sticker name-tags worn at company-retreats (though everyone knows each others' names), and the bizarre mantra that the customer is always right (even if they concuss you with a Yoo-Hoo bottle). No matter what your position in life, no matter what your career, you should find some slice of yourself here.

This is a very clever, surprisingly nuanced, and entirely relatable work. It was both strangely touching (Riley dancing in the vacant store was surprisingly painful) and yet comedic (the Teddy Grahams stalker seemed to turn into a demented "Where's Waldo"). Can you ask for more?

If you want to see Seann William Scott in a more mature, more challenging role, this film may be a good choice. (Who knew he had it in him??!!) I hope more of these complex roles come his way!

The closest film to which I can compare Conrad's The Promotion is Forster's Stranger Than Fiction. Though there isn't much one can call "existential" in this piece, there is a similar emotional dynamic. So, if you've ridden that particular roller-coaster and found it gratifying, you may enjoy this one.

P.S. This film made me reexamine my approach to comment-cards. It think I'm going to start peppering-in some expletives ... just for fun ... but only on the positive ones!!

Wow!
Wow! It has been a LONG time since I have seen such a clever, touching, absolutely hilarious movie! Bravo to Seann William Scott. I didn't know he had it in him. John C. Reilly, as usual, does not disappoint. My first introduction to him came with "Boogie Nights," and everytime I've seen him since I have been in awe of him. This movie is more than worth it!!!!