Employee of the Month

First, let me say that every movie is better when you see it for free and this was no exception. Employee of the Month stars hilarious stand up comedian Dane Cook, Horrid c-list singer, Jessica Simpson and a host of random, barely memorable actors. Dane is a slacker, do nothing 30-something who is working as a box boy at a Costco like store who decides to try and be employee of the month when he finds out new hire Jessica Simpson only nails the employee of the month. His adversary, Dax Shepard (TV's punk'd) is the greatest cashier in the southwest and is going for his 18th straight employee of the month. Yes, it does sound bad and it is pretty much as bad as it sounds.


There are jokes about bodily functions, someone gets hit in the face, there are gay jokes and even an angry midget. Yes, it is exactly like every other bad comedy you see trailers for. The reason I went to see it in the first place was because I wanted to hope that Dane Cook could make this kind of movie better and sadly he could not. When you watch him do stand up Dane is likeable, charming and uses the stage with reckless abandon and it works more often then not. Here he is trapped by a know nothing director and an unfunny script. The ending is obvious and very few of the jokes hit their mark.


Of course, it isn't all bad. Jessica Simpson's body looks as fantastic as ever. The 4 buddies in the movie have an awesome clubhouse and the guy who plays the Manager of the store is actually very funny, playing a Steve Carrel like role. Dane shows a minor vulnerability that could play well in movies in the future but overall I am not sure movies really play to the strengths of Dane as a comedian.