george.schmidt Review of The Promotion

The Promotion (2008)

"Office Space"/"The Office" comedy for the supermarket set; frequently funny

[7/10 · 9 June 2008]

THE PROMOTION (2008) **1/2 Sean William Scott, John C. Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Gil Bellows, Fred Armisen, Lili Taylor, Rick Gonzalez, Adrian Martinez, Masi Oka. Writer/director (the latter, his debut) Steve Conrad attempts to do for supermarket politics what "Office Space" and "The Office" did for working in an office succeeds for the most part in this amusing comedy of errors when a young assistant manager (Scott) thinks he's a shoo-in for a new branch of the grocery store he works in until a new transplant from a Canadian sister store (Reilly) arrives as the fly-in-the-ointment who only makes things more problematic in the process. While there are some funny situations here and there the film loses its tone/ momentum in its hesitancy to be either a black comedy or a go-for-the-throat parody of deadening jobs and the regrets one have for never achieving their dreams.