The Movie:

There’s nothing overly spectacular about The Promotion, and yet it has an odd way of succeeding at every little joke it makes. Peculiarly satisfying, the film showcases key hilarious scenes interspersed with occasionally mediocre, but generally entertaining, bits of gross-out humor and creative cursing. A combination of the best elements of Waiting and Office Space applied to the grocery business, The Promotion uses dry, bitingly dark humor and abrasive sarcasm to muster up many quality laughs.

Doug Stauber (Seann William Scott) works as an Assistant Manager for Donaldson’s, a generic grocery store that demonstrates the basic horrors of any retail store. While he tolerates the many nuisances and hazards of grocery store life, he envisions a more luxurious life when a new Donaldson’s is set to open up nearby. Considered the “shoe-in” for the position of Manager, Doug finally decides to buy a house with his wife Jennifer (Jenna Fischer), counting on the huge increase in pay.

But just as Doug rejoices at the position he believes is his, Richard Welhner (John C. Reilly) transfers to the store from Canada. Richard is secretly recovering from a drug and alcohol problem, but he has an outstanding service record that presents Doug with some serious competition for the new Manager spot. With the pressure of trying to outperform his rival, Doug ends up sinking further and further into stress-filled delirium – as does Richard, who must break all the rules to compete for the big promotion.

Read the Rest of Mike Massie’s Theatrical Review!

7/10

Special Features:

Working in the film business, you hear a lot of gossip. One such piece concerned The Promotion. One of the producers on the picture is a good friend of an exec on a major television program. The producer shared with this particular exec that one of the Weinstein’s thanked the filmmaker for allowing The Promotion to bankrupt their company.

Now this was obviously an extreme exaggeration, and I’m sure the brothers Weinstein are not going anywhere anytime soon, but ultimately this was an unfair criticism. The comedy was set up to fail from the start. With the picture opening in less than a hundred theaters around the country in the midst of summer blockbuster season, it is no wonder it barely made a small fraction of its budget back.

With Stifler and funny-man John C. Reilly in the cast, The Promotion would have inevitably made money with a little (ahem) promotion, even if the picture wasn’t good! The fact that the film is thoroughly enjoyable and undeniably smart makes this an absolute travesty.

While the film is worth your time, the quickly slapped together DVD certainly isn’t. The transfer is atrocious, and several shots shift between aspect ratios, unnaturally stretching the image across the screen! The special features are minimal at best, however Director does a nice job making sure the commentary and “making-of” documentary offer some substance. Hearing his inspiration for the project is rather amusing too.

3/10

Overall:

A horrible transfer and minimal special features certainly will derail viewers from purchasing this unacceptable DVD. However the film itself is undeniably wonderful. It is a must see, even with its horrendous presentation.

-Joe Russo