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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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This 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.
The Promotion edges toward some pretty bleak stuff. Then it steps back and laughs, like an office slacker.
Top CriticHere's a weird little comedy... Kind of like Clerks in a bigger store, or at least a funny version of Employee of the Month.
Steve Conrad's wry debut takes place in an urban Chicago grocery store, in which an intimate epic of manhood unfolds.
A smart, understated comedy about two assistant supermarket managers making a bid for the one big promotion they both desperately need.
There's something appealingly modest about The Promotion. It's a sweet, human movie.
It's a little pat and shallow.
Top CriticEasily the worst movie I've seen so far this year.
Top CriticThere's still a lot to like here, but ultimately the movie reflects its hapless hero a little too well. While we're constantly rooting for it to succeed, the finish line seems forever out of reach.
Conrad has the humanity part down. Even if his little film is something of a mess, that counts for something.
Isn't as broad as its premise might suggest.
It's one of those off-balance movies that seems searching for the right tone.
Top CriticThink of it as a polite, tightly muzzled Clerks.
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.
Fueled by a sense of economic desperation that's all too familiar, The Promotion may wind up being the funniest, timeliest comedy of 2008.
By going easy on everyone, [director Conrad] turns what could have been a searing satire into a lukewarm comedy.
The film is so restrained and deadpan that it barely seems alive
If you think latent racism is just plain hysterical.
Not much here is funny, the Chicago locations are drab, and the characters, as ordinary as they are, never develop into anything more than premise props.
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.
May 25, 2008:
Trailer & Poster review 
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