I'm No Barry Norman But................... .. (The Promotion (DVD))

Member Name: funzo

Product:	The Promotion (DVD)
Date:	19/10/08 (269 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Unexpected little gem of a film

Disadvantages: Worst accent ever seen in film...ever.

Last weekend gratefully saw the last of the weddings for 2008. With only a few left friends to marry, (you can put me into that little group), my wedding suit is safely back into the wardrobe at least until March of next year. The downside of this is no more free bars...and the result of last weekends free bar was that I spent all of Sunday nursing the hangover from hell having what I call a Duvet Day. A day is spent under the duvet tucked up on the couch, watching films, drinking tea and consuming packs of biscuits faster than you can say 'Are we out of Chocolate hobnobs already?' One of these films that I watched, wallowing on my couch, was The Promotion.

I didn't hear much of The Promotion upon its release this year, there didn't seem to be too much hype around it despite its cast of Sean William Scott better known as Stifler from American Pie and John C Reilly, star of Step Brothers. It is written and directed by Steve Conrad, who directs for the first time.

The storyline

Without giving too much away Doug (Sean William Scott) is a painfully nice normal guy with a lovely little wife and a dead-end job as assistant manager at one of those chained soul-less supermarkets that you find all across America and slowly but surely increasingly so here in the UK. But when the company plans to open a bigger and fancier store in a nearby neighborhood, Doug sees his shot at the big-time: A store manager position that comes with a swanky raise and all sorts of extra benefits. Doug's present manager assures him that he's a "shoo-in" for the new manager spot ... but then Richard (John C. Reilly) arrives from a Quebec branch - and thus a battle for promotion and one-upmanship begins.

Review

Throughout this film and to its entire credit there is a feel of smallness and of an indie type film but with the big film budget and laughs to match. Sean William Scott has matured well from his American Pie days. He brings compassion and humanity to the role of Doug to accompany his already established comedic prowess and to me, John C Reilly is greatly underrated actor. Whatever part he plays, he plays well, and together the two positively thrive in their roles, leaving you powerless to have anything but affection for their characters. The film successfully balances broad farce with actual humanity with wit, warmth and weirdness. A fantastic little comedy, filled with all sorts of weird little moments and strange diversions, but at its core, The Promotion is a profanely sweet-natured dual character study that provides a lot of laughs while actually celebrating small doses of actual humanity without the American ram it down your throat kind of way we have sadly come to expect. My only beef with this film, is the complete miscasting of the role of Richards wife who for some completely unknown reason is miscast as a Scottish woman. There is no reason for her to be Scottish and the actresses' accent is so painfully bad it makes Mel Gibson's accent in Braveheart seem like Rab C Nesbitt. Her accent is atrocious and unnecessary but do not let that put you off what was a surprisingly funny and endearingly engaging film. Great for Duvet Days. :)
Thanks for reading

Summary: The Promotion - Unexpected little gem of a film with Worst accent ever seen in film...ever