"Employee of the Month" (2006) / review and/or viewer comments

Employee of the Month

MPAA Rating: PG-13

for crude and sexual humor, and language

Review coming from Contributor: Melisa Pollock

Moral Rating:

Extremely Offensive

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Moviemaking Quality:

Primary Audience:

Teens, Adults

Genre:

Comedy

Length:

1 hr. 43 min.

Year of Release:

2006

USA Release:

October 6, 2006 (wide)

Relevant Issues

Featuring:	Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, Dax Shepard, Efren Ramirez, Andy Dick, Brian George, Shirly Brener, Harland Williams, Danny Woodburn
Director:	Greg Coolidge
Producer:	Peter Abrams, Michael Burns, Barry Katz, Jon Kuyper, Robert L. Levy, Andrew Panay, Michael Paseornek, John Sacchi, Joe Simpson, Brian Volk-Weiss, Brian Weiss
Distributor:	Lionsgate

For those of you who prefer the shorter version, I can sum up the movie in 2 words: DON'T BOTHER!

Many of you were probably taught by your parents that if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all. In that case, I'd have to end this review right now.

The entire plot of the movie consists of 2 male employees at the Super Club retailer in a state of one-upmanship, competing for Employee of the Month in order to score with the market's newest cashier. Vince has been the Super Club's Employee of the Month for the past 17 months. During that time, he has advanced through various positions to become head cashier. He is well-favored among the Super Club management and has been named the fastest checker in the southwest. He is in line for a big promotion and has quite an award package awaiting him, pending his 18th consecutive win. Zach, on the other hand, is your typical run-of-the-mill box boy. He has little regard for the store and no self-motivation or desire to advance to higher positions. He is your everyday guy: He goes to work; he goes home. He is well-liked and respected by fellow employees. Enter Amy (Jessica Simpson), the gorgeous new cashier who recently transferred to the local Super Club with a reputation preceding her of one who has a thing for Employees of the Month; and watch the games begin.

Morally, the movie is trash. All I can say is dig a hole and bury it DEEP! You'll find as much filth in the movie, as you will in that hole you bury it in.

The entire movie is filled with profanity, starting immediately and continuing to the very last scene. They should have found and swallowed some of that soap they were selling; maybe it would have cleaned up their language a bit.

Typically, I try to name every occurrence of anything that someone might find objectionable. With this movie, that is not feasible. I have an entire page filled with occurrences. If I had not agreed to write this review, I would have walked out 2 minutes into the movie.

There are numerous instances of profanity (Ephesians 4:29), numerous instances of using our blessed Lord's name in vain (Exodus 20:7); sexual situations, lust-of-the-eye type occurrences (Matthew 5:28); male and female body parts named and/or gestured to in a vulgar-type or lewd manner (I Corinthians 6:9-10); homosexual type situations strongly implied; and the list could go on.

The MPAA Rating for the movie is PG-13 (Parents Strongly Cautioned: Some Material May Be Inappropriate for Children Under 13 for crude and sexual humor and language).

I find this movie strongly objectionable. I adamantly disagree with the PG-13 rating. Personally, I do not believe that adults or teenagers of any age have any place seeing this kind of filth. This rating, in my opinion, seems to indicate that the film is acceptable for teenagers 13 and older; and nothing could be further from the truth. The movie is inappropriate for all children and for teens of all ages. I will NOT be taking my 16-year-old to see this film. Films of this nature are the exact reason that she is not allowed to see a PG or a PG-13 film until I have read the reviews on it.

My advice for this movie: Definitely a must NOT SEE! Save your money! I'd have had more fun staying home and cleaning house!

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Extreme / Sex/Nudity: Heavy

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.

Positive - I saw 'Employee of the Month' yesterday. To be honest, it was a somewhat decent film. It was certainly entertaining and fun to watch, but the story was a bit cliche'. Dane Cook is pretty funny but the scene-stealers definitely have to be Efren Ramirez (Pedro, 'Napoleon Dynamite') & Dax Shepard ('Without a Paddle'). They're pretty darn funny. Jessica Simpson is also decent in the film. She was pretty cute and wasn't as skanky in this as she was in 'Dukes of Hazzard'.

The film also had some surprising good morals. First off, (SPOILER ALERT) Jessica Simpson's character (Amy), was rumored to be interested in always sleeping with the employee-of-the-month. So Dane Cook and Dax Shepard (without full confirmation that she would) fight for her so they can sleep with her. But in the end, it turns out she didn't really have a thing for the EOTM but at her previous Costco-like job, she slept with the EOTM and she admits it was a major mistake and the guy was a jerk. She also realizes that this was Dane Cook's mission and she immediately rejects him. Dane Cook then realizes that love doesn't mean you have to immediately sleep with a person. He changes his ways and gets Amy back (because of his newly-innocent intention) and they don't have sex (it wasn't at all implied either). I was surprised that there wasn't any sex at all in this film or any implied sex.

Another good moral they had was that if you're life is down, change it. Change the way you are (Romans 12:2) If it's hard, then keep going and don't give up. And always have the best intentions on anything. Be a good sport (bless those who curse you, do good to those who are against you, just like Dane Cook against Dax Shepard). And don't plan evil for others (it says that somewhere in the bible too.

…Sure, there's some objectionable sections here and there, including: Some mild crude sexual jokes towards others (before Dane Cook's character is changed), some cleavage shown by Amy (of course, it's jessica simpson, what else would you expect?), an F-word (said at a birthday party), and 3 G-Damns (all said by Dax Shepard, who is the VILLIAN in the movie, and therefore, villains say and do bad things. Don't worry, he gets paid back by a security guard. Remember COLOSSIANS 3:25: Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for his wrong, and there is no favoritism.

With that, it was actually a tame PG-13 movie. SERIOUSLY. They could've done so much more bad stuff. But check it out. There's no sex shown or implied at all (besides amy's encounter that's implied but she learned a lesson from it. should people not be forgiven for their sins?).

…this is pretty tame stuff for a PG-13. Granted, it does earn a PG-13 but not as bad a PG-13 as say, 'Accepted', or 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend'. This has so many (although subtle) Christian themes in it, I can't even fit them all in. If I remember some others that I couldn't remember, I'll add them later for proof. So to sum up, check out 'Employee of the Month' if you want. It's not an entirely clean film, but it's not incredibly bad filthy trash completely objectionable either. It's pretty tame for a PG-13. Trust me. It even has some cool christian themes hidden in it. Check it out as a Saturday or Sunday matinee though. Not extremely worth ten bucks. Maybe 6 or 7. (P.S. I saw this yesterday—sunday—several hours before going to church and did not walk out feeling completely filthy or guilty at all)
My Ratings: Average / 4
—Jake, age 22

Positive - My wife and I saw this movie just for some laid back simple humor of the boy getting the girl in this particular way; and the movie is just that. You should know what you're getting yourself into when you see the movie. I'd give it a 3/5. It wasn't bad, nor was it incredible. And 12 dollars for the two of us wasn't a bad spending of money. …There was NO nudity, sex, heavy sexual inuendos, no blood/gore, no corse language, etc. PG-13 was just fine for this movie.…
My Ratings: Average / 3
—Joshua Pennington, age 23

Comments from young people

Positive - Come on lighten up! This movie wasn't that bad. Sure there were some sexual parts (such as a few references to private parts) and a little language, but overall it wasn't that offensive. I couldn't stop laughing half the time! I would definitely recommend it if you are a mature teen.
My Ratings: Average / 4
—Anonymous, age 14