I Really Hate My Job

 (2008)

by Johnny Web (Uncle Scoopy; Greg Wroblewski)

Perhaps you are familiar with the film Waiting, a Ryan Reynolds comedy about the restaurant business. That was a low-brow but comically accurate look behind the scenes at the family-style American chain restaurants like Applebee's, and it focused on events rather than characterization.

I Really Hate My Job takes on an identical theme - that nobody in the restaurant business really wants to be there - and does so in an identical way, by showing one day in the life of a restaurant from opening until closing. This version has a bit of a different take than Waiting. It focuses on a trendy little restaurant in London, and it brings the lives of the staff to the forefront while relegating the comic mishaps to the rear. Probably too much to the rear.

Oh, the characters seem to be acting in a comedy. They deliver their lines in a rapid-fire pace with no pauses either within or between them, as if they were all in a 1930's comedy with Cagney or Kate Hepburn. And there are comic pratfalls, like a rat infestation and a drunken waitress who waits on tables naked. But the film generates no real laughter. Because the scriptwriter placed characterization above cheap laughs, the ordinary service employees stay in character. They are not stand-up comics. They are not gag writers. Therefore, their conversations ring of the quotidian and mundane, and they have neither humorous insights nor Wildean badinage in their repertoire.  In short, it's a comedy without any of that pesky humor to slow it down.

Two other items of interest:

1. If you enjoy an occasional guilty pleasure in your theater-going experiences, Neve Campbell is the waitress who gets completely naked, and she presents her breasts and a full-length rear view at some length in good light while delivering a stagy, self-absorbed, drunken monologue.

2, I Really Hate My Job was the very last screen appearance made by Barry Morse, the actor who was well known to baby boomers as Lt. Gerard on the popular American TV series The Fugitive. You can see him in the frame below, behind the light. He was 89, and would die before his next birthday.

Since the film is located entirely in the restaurant and only five people have any significant lines, watching it is like attending a stage play which focuses all of its energy on the frustrations of five women who are living lives very different from the ones they once dreamt of. If you are one of the relatively small number of filmgoers who might be seeking that sort of entertainment, the film presents its claustrophobic psychological dramedy competently. There are five reasonably interesting characters played by a solid cast, and there's a charming musical cameo from Danny Huston as himself.

In other words, the film is not without its charms, but is certainly without any broad appeal.

DVD INFO

* widescreen anamorphic

 

 

 

 

 

 

THE CRITICS AND ACADEMIES

No major reviews online.

   
   
   
   
   

THE PEOPLE

   
7.0 IMDB summary (of 10)
   

 

 

 

 

 

THE BOX OFFICE

Festival circuit, then straight to video.

 

 

 

 

 

NUDITY REPORT

  • Breasts and buns from Neve Campbell. See the main commentary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Google
 
Web www.scoopy.com

Our Grade:

If you are not familiar with our grading system, you need to read the explanation, because the grading is not linear. For example, by our definition, a C is solid and a C+ is a VERY good movie. There are very few Bs and As. Based on our descriptive system, this film is a:

C

Competent small-audience film.