Tone and pace are absolutely crucial to comedy. If the tone is wrong or the pace is off - by even a hair - the comedy will shrivel up and die. And that's precisely what happens in The Promotion.
2 Comments
06/14/08
The Promotion (2008)
53
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:74
Fresh:39
Rotten:35
Average Rating:5.7/10
Consensus: With a workplace-related theme worthy of satire, The Promotion features some sharp witticisms but ultimately disappoints.
Theatrical Release:Jun 6, 2008 Limited
Box Office: $362,531
Synopsis: THE PROMOTION is a low-key, deader than deadpan comedy-drama that fans of THE OFFICE should love. The film stars Sean William Scott (AMERICAN PIE) and John C. Reilly (TALLADEGA NIGHTS) as assistant... [More]
Starring: John C. Reilly, Seann William Scott, Jenna Fischer, Lili Taylor
Director: Steve Conrad
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Reviews for The Promotion
The portrayal of employment in America is too close for comfort. Or comedy...Not the stuff of lighthearted summer comedy.
06/12/08
Top CriticA nice little comedy about what it takes to climb the corporate ladder and the toll such actions take on the psyche of a decent individual.
10/18/08
Top CriticA nasty-hearted little film, and in absolutely the worst way for a film to be nasty: it is absolutely convinced of its own warm spirit.
06/12/08
Fizzles as a comedy and as an exploration of the stresses of work.
06/20/08
The Promotion skates out onto that thin ice of comedic subtlety. Like its characters, it's not terribly successful, but it's an admirable effort all the same.
06/13/08
bills itself as a comedy, and elements of it do fall into that category, but at its core, this is an incisive and often merciless deconstruction of the American Dream
06/15/08
The Promotion, beyond what's a deeper screenplay than some may give it credit for, is consistently funny in a build-up-and-release way that, much like The Weather Man, supplements those one-liners with uncomfortable behavior and a comedy of manners.
04/10/08
Reilly and Scott richly mine their characters, alternately confiding in and undermining each other. Their vulnerability and yearning for the good life is a quiet but powerful statement that will stay with you long after the closing credits.
06/13/08
"The Promotion" needs some career counseling to figure out just what it really wants to be.
06/09/08
Not that there aren't some great laughs, but this is far from the laugh-a-minute yuck-fest some might expect.
06/04/08
It's one of those off-balance movies that seems searching for the right tone.
06/06/08
Top CriticThis notable, Chicago-filmed comedy was inspired by the true events of director Steve Conrad seeing a store employee at a Chicago chain armed only with a yellow courtesy vest break up some unruly loiterers in the parking lot.
06/06/08
Despite its gimmicky-sounding premise, The Promotion is, like most of Conrad’s work, less concerned with matters of winning or losing than with man’s sometimes noble, sometimes deplorable, often futile attempts to distinguish himself from the herd.
06/05/08
A smart, understated comedy about two assistant supermarket managers making a bid for the one big promotion they both desperately need.
06/06/08
As bad as a severe case of the Mondays.
06/13/08
Top CriticThe acting, not Steve Conrad's bland writing and uneven pacing, drives this low-key, mildly amusing, occasionally insightful workplace satire.
06/13/08
By going easy on everyone, [director Conrad] turns what could have been a searing satire into a lukewarm comedy.
06/06/08
Top CriticAlthough pacing and rhythm of some scenes are wildly uneven, this is a respectable debut behind the camera and a smart independent comedy that needs strong marketing to find the kind of savvy audience willing to give this odd duck a fighting chance.
06/06/08
The strangely paced drama/comedy never finds much of a groove. Elements of conventional madcap comedy butt against more indie-ready scenes of relationship dysfunction, and the end result is more frustrating than interesting.
06/13/08
Top CriticLatest News for The Promotion
May 25, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review 
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