Employee of the Month

This is an odd movie. It stars out as if it will be a dark comedy. Matt Dillon plays a mid-level bank employee who is unexpectedly fired one day. That same evening, he is dumped by his girlfriend. Even though his boss and his girlfriend both cited good reasons for their actions (he's unfaithful and incompetent), it's obvious that Matt has had the day from hell.

He gets drunk, buys a gun, and contemplates suicide. In the last analysis, he decides that revenge would be more fun than suicide, so he takes his gun to work and uses it to intimidate his boss, but not before using the office computer to approve a few outrageously unqualified loans and transfer some massive amounts of funds to the accounts of random customers.

As it turns out, while Matt is in the bank with a gun, a violent masked gang chooses to rob the place. What will he do?

Does that sound like a lot of plot?

Well, get this - that is only the set-up, although it takes more than an hour. The final twenty minutes of the film include so many plot twists at such a rapid pace that you won't even be able to follow them all. Suffice it to say that nothing in the entire movie has been what you thought it was, and just as soon as you think you realize what is going on, the entire film changes again, and then again, and again ...

While the final credits roll, the film shows us all of the things that happened off camera during the two days in which the film took place, the sum of which shows us how we were kept in the dark.

If you are a movie buff, you have realized that something sounds very familiar.

The hidden scenes in the credits.
Matt Dillon as the patsy involved with two women.
Topless bimbos.
An infinite series of double-crosses
The final revelation of the unexpected real mastermind.

By God ... it's Wild Things!

Yup, it's pretty much of a blatant Wild Things rip-off, with Matt Dillon as a humble bank officer instead of a humble guidance counselor. Subtract one swamp, add one city. Stir.

My reaction is this:

Wild Things was a sleazy, fun, grade-B movie which I liked much better than merited by its quality. Employee of the Month is a sleazy, grade-C movie which I like much better than merited by its quality. That doesn't mean, of course, that I like them equally. First of all, everything in this movie is a grade lower than in Wild Things. Secondly, Wild Things was the original and this is the copy, and this kind of thing only works once. Having said that, let me add that I liked this much better than Wild Things II. Matt Dillon was on hand doing his usual thing dependably, and Steve Zahn provided some outrageous comic relief.

In that sense, you may like the film if you liked Wild Things. Just not as much. If you did not like Wild Things, this one is a must-avoid, cuz it's about the same but not as good.

DVD INFO

widescreen anamorphic

NUDITY REPORT

Fiona Gubelmann does a comic relief topless scene as a clueless stripper who has sex with Steve Zahn
A couple of additional strippers are seen in the background at the strip club. They are in the distance and are mostly not in focus.

The Critics Vote ...

No major reviews online.

The People Vote ...

IMDB summary. IMDb voters score it 4.9/10

Premiere at Sundance. No theatrical release.

The meaning of the IMDb score: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence equivalent to about three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, comparable to approximately two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, equivalent to about a two star rating from the critics, or a C- from our system. Films rated below five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film - this score is roughly equivalent to one and a half stars from the critics or a D on our scale. (Possibly even less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. (C+ means it has no crossover appeal, but will be considered excellent by genre fans, while C- indicates that it we found it to be a poor movie although genre addicts find it watchable). D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well. Any film rated C- or better is recommended for fans of that type of film. Any film rated B- or better is recommended for just about anyone. We don't score films below C- that often, because we like movies and we think that most of them have at least a solid niche audience. Now that you know that, you should have serious reservations about any movie below C-.

Based on this description, this is a C-. I rarely give that low a score to a film I kinda like, but I have to be realistic and acknowledge that not many people will be in my camp on this one, because it's basically a lesser re-make of Wild Things.