by [ irulan ]
I enjoy dark comedies, which is exactly why I picked up Employee of the Month. At least that combined with the fact that a decent group of actors starred in the movie – Matt Dillon, Christina Applegate, and Steve Zahn. However, things are not always what they appear to be or in this case promoted to be.
We are introduced to David (Dillon). He is a likeable enough character – a nice guy with a bank job he loves, a fiancée (Applegate), a wacky best friend (Zahn), and a new house. However, his day goes from bad to worse when he is not only fired for being incompetent, but his fiancée dumps him during dinner with her parents present. Talk about a really bad day. He's kicked out of his house, stops to buy a gun, and heads to a hotel for the night. He spends the night pitying himself and pouring his heart out to a female escort that his friend has sent him. And no, he doesn't do the expected. Oddly enough however, even though he is fired he is told to work until the end of the week. So he goes to work the next day, takes the gun, and confronts his boss. In the midst of an argument with his boss, armed robbers storm the bank. The robbers actually drive their vehicle right through the outside glass. Just as they are leaving the bank, they decide to take a hostage with them. David pulls his gun out and saves the hostage, but they take him instead. Later, the vehicle is found burned with David's remains inside. This is only the beginning…
This set-up takes over an hour. Yes, you read that correctly – just the set up. The next 20-30 action packed minutes fly by and take the movie in an entirely different (not necessarily good), unexpected direction. Don't get me wrong, a couple of surprises are a good thing. However, you'll be left befuddled by a seemingly infinite number of double crosses and plot twists. Stay tuned for the credits; they explain everything in about 2 minutes. By the time they are done rolling, you'll be staring at the blank screen thinking, “WTH?” with a puzzled look on your face.