Review of Employee of the Month (2004) by Neil J — 28 Jul 2010

Employee of the Month is yet another mediocre comedy churned out by the Hollywood machine of unoriginality. It's not a bad film, but it's not a particularly good one either as it manages to illicit only a few chuckles during the course of its painfully predictable storyline. Caught in two minds whether it wants to be a romantic comedy or just a comedy, it ends up being neither as it's not funny enough to be a comedy and not romantic enough to be a rom-com.

The plot is very simplistic; when a new gorgeous employee joins the staff of a supermarket, the slacker employee learns that she has a thing for men who manage to win the employee of the month award. Our slacker decides she is worth the effort but the only problem is that another employee has won the award for the past 17 months leaving him with a huge challenge on his hands. Will he get the girl in the end? I'm fairly certain you already know the answer to that question.

The cast is decent; Dane Cook and Dax Shepherd are both likeable and do the best with what their given but it's the supporting cast of weirdo's that manage to provide most of the laughs. Jessica Simpson as the girl is given very few lines of dialogue because it's clear to all that she's an awful actress. The main problem of the film isn't the predictable storyline; it's the total lack of good jokes. The writers simply didn't put enough effort into creating amusing situations or even some funny dialogue for our characters. There are some reasonably funny moments but not even to keep a 100 minute comedy film from becoming dragged out. The romantic scenes are ok but Simpson's complete lack of acting ability drags them down.

Employee of the Month is another average comedy film that provides a couple of humourous scenes and a bit or romance but isn't good enough to hold your attention for the full running time. The cast tries their best, especially the rag tag group of supporting characters, but it's not enough to stop the film from being firmly entered into the mediocre category.