What an odd film. The first ten minutes or so establish the ethos concisely. An Oriental woman enters Bill Pulman's office for a job interview. He asks, "Didn't Laura tell you I was busy and ask you to wait outside? Either she did or she didn't. If she didn't, I call down and fire Laura. If she did, you close the door and wait outside until I'm finished. Which is it?" When he's finished with his business (which is twitting his boss over the results of a football game) he asks the woman in and scans her resume. "So, Monica, you'd like to work here." "Michelle," she corrects him. "Hmm. So you're Chinese." "My grandparents were from Japan," she says. Pullman then draws out his denial of her application, relishing every moment of her humiliation, telling her, "I won't hire anyone who sits there and corrects me all the time just because I didn't memorize every goddam item on her resume." There is another terrific scene in those first few minutes, when Pullman visits the office of his Big Boss, Duke. (Everybody seems to be named Duke or Rick or Buck or Nick.) Pullman teases Duke about having lost the bet on the game and the two of them start playing grabass in this masculine way that high school kids do, ragging one another and calling names and jabbing each other in the ribs, chuckling all the while. However, after 30 or 40 seconds of this rough house we realize that the razzing is becoming more one sided. Duke -- Pullman's superior -- is now shouting all the insults while Pullman is groaning with mock pain. "I'm gonna kill your family and you, then I'm gonna take a red hot poker and shove it up your a** and cut off your b**** and set 'em on fire." Pullman (doing a splendid job) shields himself with his hands, says, "No, no -- not THAT!", and crawls under the desk while Duke follows him, still shouting threats.
It's an extremely funny scene but there's an element of sadism in it too, a kind of Schadenfreude, since the main reason it's funny is that it's happening to someone else. It's the same reason we might laugh at some poor guy who realizes in a public place that his fly is open and quickly zips up. We wouldn't want to trade places with him. It's all the more humiliating for Pullman because his boss looks about 10 or 20 years younger than he is. Man, is that a degrading position to be in. I once applied for a job at a pizza place and was interviewed by a kid less than half my age. "Ever had any delivery experience -- sir?", he inquired.
The movie follows a not uncommon trajectory, from whimsically amusing through seriousness to tragedy. I kind of wish it had stayed funny, because the tragic part doesn't really tell us much. We don't emerge from the experience epiphanied or anything. Basically, Pullman hates his boss so much, particularly after finding that his boss has been diddling Pullman's daughter, that he hires somebody to kill Duke. There is a mistake in identity and the wrong person is killed. Hello? The performances are all good, especially Pullman. I'm coming to respect him as an actor more and more because he can accomplish so much while seeming to do so little. (Listen to his phony groans through clenched teeth when Duke is tormenting him during that first scene. A perfect blend of pretending and feeling.) The dialog scintillates when it sticks to arrogance and humiliation. In the second half it turns rather pedestrian, but still -- that first half is very nicely done.
The direction is efficient without being flamboyant. The score is unique. Without really paying much attention, I was able to identify only four instruments -- base, drums, guitar, and accordion. Not a quartet though. They don't play at the same time, and rarely in any combination at all. One rather lengthy scene is scored using only up-tempo solo drums. The only tunes I could discern were Christmas songs or variations on them.
The movie has its weaknesses but it's an original effort. It imitates nothing that's gone before. The people involved should get a pat on the back, even if some viewers might find it a little simple in its message. If you are too greedy for material things, you will regret it later. I think the Greeks may have called this sin "pleonaxis." In this case the punishment seems to have been brought on by the Jade Emporer through a Chinese curse.
It's an extremely funny scene but there's an element of sadism in it too, a kind of Schadenfreude, since the main reason it's funny is that it's happening to someone else. It's the same reason we might laugh at some poor guy who realizes in a public place that his fly is open and quickly zips up. We wouldn't want to trade places with him. It's all the more humiliating for Pullman because his boss looks about 10 or 20 years younger than he is. Man, is that a degrading position to be in. I once applied for a job at a pizza place and was interviewed by a kid less than half my age. "Ever had any delivery experience -- sir?", he inquired.
The movie follows a not uncommon trajectory, from whimsically amusing through seriousness to tragedy. I kind of wish it had stayed funny, because the tragic part doesn't really tell us much. We don't emerge from the experience epiphanied or anything. Basically, Pullman hates his boss so much, particularly after finding that his boss has been diddling Pullman's daughter, that he hires somebody to kill Duke. There is a mistake in identity and the wrong person is killed. Hello? The performances are all good, especially Pullman. I'm coming to respect him as an actor more and more because he can accomplish so much while seeming to do so little. (Listen to his phony groans through clenched teeth when Duke is tormenting him during that first scene. A perfect blend of pretending and feeling.) The dialog scintillates when it sticks to arrogance and humiliation. In the second half it turns rather pedestrian, but still -- that first half is very nicely done.
The direction is efficient without being flamboyant. The score is unique. Without really paying much attention, I was able to identify only four instruments -- base, drums, guitar, and accordion. Not a quartet though. They don't play at the same time, and rarely in any combination at all. One rather lengthy scene is scored using only up-tempo solo drums. The only tunes I could discern were Christmas songs or variations on them.
The movie has its weaknesses but it's an original effort. It imitates nothing that's gone before. The people involved should get a pat on the back, even if some viewers might find it a little simple in its message. If you are too greedy for material things, you will regret it later. I think the Greeks may have called this sin "pleonaxis." In this case the punishment seems to have been brought on by the Jade Emporer through a Chinese curse.