The Promotion (2008) - Conrad's under-appreciated supermarket comedy

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+ Best Box Office Disaster of the Year + Best Comedy of the Year 

 

A tense stand-off in an office between two famous funny-men make up this poster for Steve Conrad's The Promotion

Doug is told that he is a 'shoe-in' for the open position of store manager of a large, newly opened Donaldson's grocery store, - but then the Canadian wildcard Richard enters the equation...

The Promotion is written and directed by great Floridian filmmaker Steve Conrad (Lawrence Melm (2004)).

Seann William Scott (Mr. Woodcock (2007)) gets totally free of the shadow of his goofy American Pie (1999; 2001; 2003; 2012) stardom here and is brilliant as an insecure, worried boss-to-be, and John C. Reilly (Dark Water (2005)) is incredibly funny as the imbecile Canadian competition with self-help audio in his ears. With a terrific supporting cast, this is a rare workplace comedy that's really good and hilarious. It challenges the power of the promotion for the regular Joe and succeeds handsomely with plenty of laughs at the expense of the often politically incorrect reality.

 

Related posts:

 

Steve Conrad: Wonder (2017) - Remember napkins for Chbosky's heart-warming family drama (co-writer)

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) - Stiller's sweet, visually splendid Christmas present (writer) 

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) - Two Smiths inspire hearts and minds in true-story drama (writer)

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 8 mil. $

Box office: 457k $

= Box office disaster (returned 0.05 times its cost)

[The Promotion premiered 9 March (South by Southwest Film Festival, USA) and runs 86 minutes. Shooting took place around July 2006 in Chicago, Illinois. The film opened #46 to a 30k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #22 and in 81 theaters, grossing 408k $ (89.3 % of the total gross). The film only has two other recorded markets, (it was also released theatrically in Portugal but the result goes unreported.) Germany with 33k $ (7.2 %) and Singapore with 15k $ (3.3 %.) Roger Ebert gave the film a 2/4 star review, translating to 3 notches under this one. Conrad has not returned with a feature as a director since, instead directing some TV and more turning towards writing. Scott returned in Role Models (2008); Reilly in The Simpsons (2008, TV-series) and theatrically in Step Brothers (2008). The Promotion is rotten at 55 % with a 5.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Promotion?

The Pursuit of Happyness (2006) - Two Smiths inspire hearts and minds in true-story drama

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+ Best Biopic of the Year + Best San Francisco Movie of the Year + Deserved Hit of the Year

 

 

Hollywood father and son star Will Smith and co-star Jaden Smith in a cute moment make up this poster for Gabriele Muccino's The Pursuit of Happyness

 

In Reagan's 1980s America, we follow Chris Gardner, a savvy salesman in San Francisco, who struggles with selling a hopeless product and a wife who doesn't believe in him, attempting to keep alive his dream of a better life and be a good father to his son.

The Pursuit of Happyness is written by Steve Conrad (Wonder (2017)), based on the same-titled 2006 memoir by Chris Gardner and Quincy Troupe, and directed by Gabriele Muccino (Ecco Fatto (1998)).

Forget the sappy vibe that the poster erroneously creates: The Pursuit of Happyness is a wonderful, strong, human and very American film - about overcoming hard odds in life.

It is a film full of situations that this reviewer at least recognized from his own life, borne by an almost heroic trooper in Will Smith's (Ali (2001)) front and center performance. Jaden Smith (The Karate Kid (2010)) proves also a find as his son, - their interplay goes straight to the soft spot in the heart, and God bless them both for this film.

Thandiwe Newton (God's Country (2022)) is good at being the exhausted, sour wife here, although she at times over-plays it a bit. James Karen (The Return of the Living Dead (1985)) is especially good in a supporting part. The Pursuit of Happyness is soberly told with a good eye for details. The ending packs a strong emotional wallop, (and real-life Gardner actually walks by in its last fine shot.) It is an outstanding, uplifting film of survival and overcoming poverty and despair.

 

Related post:

 

2006 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 55 mil. $

Box office: 307.1 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 5.58 times its cost)

[The Pursuit of Happyness was released 15 December (North America, Mexico, Croatia) and runs 117 minutes. Shooting took place around September 2005 in California, including in San Francisco. Smith's profit participation deal reportedly netted him an incredible 71.4 mil. $ pay for the film. It opened #1 to a 26.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 5 weekends in the top 5 (#2-#2-#2-#3-#5), grossing 163.5 mil. $ (53.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 22.6 mil. $ (7.4 %) and Italy with 21.3 mil. $ (6.9 %). Smith was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar, lost to Forest Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland. The film was also nominated for a David di Donatello award, 2 Golden Globes, among other honors. It additionally made in excess of 90.5 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Muccino returned with 3 short, video and TV credits prior to his theatrical return with Seven Pounds (2008). Smith returned in I Am Legend (2007). The Pursuit of Happyness is fresh at 67 % with a 6.40/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Pursuit of Happyness?

Wonder (2017) - Remember napkins for Chbosky's heart-warming family drama

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+ Best Family Movie of the Year + Most Deserved Hit of the Year + Best Tearjerker of the Year

A family of four is at the heart of Stephen Chbosky's Wonder as well as this turquoise poster

Auggie Pullman is a boy living with a rare facial deformity, whose parents are supporting him to start in middle school after years of home school. But finding his place in an often less than kind world is a challenge for Auggie.

Wonder is the third feature from Pennsylvanian master co-writer-director Stephen Chbosky (The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012), written by Chbosky, Steve Conrad (Lawrence Malm (2004)) and Jack Thorne (War Book (2014)), based on the same-titled children's novel by R.J. Palacio.
Chbosky returns with another moving adaptation of the pains of growing up, again rooted in school life and its tensions, and once again with a plot that uses music well and applies theater positively to its story, in this case by Auggie's big sister's performing in Our Town.
Owen Wilson (Zoolander 2 (2016)) and Julia Roberts (Grand Champion (2002)) are probably cinema's nicest parent couple here since Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock played Thomas Horn's parents in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close. Both are just great, and they share fun parental interplay here. But the story is really about kids, - not just Auggie, but is structured in chapters around four kids, which is a neat device that broadens the film's scope to insightful effect.
Jacob Tremblay (Room (2015)) is really the film's star, and despite the heavy prosthetics he has to wear here, his instinctual talent gets across freely. The fine cast also includes Sonia Braga (An Invisible Sign (2010)) in a fine scene as a grandmother and Mandy Patinkin (Lulu on the Bridge (1998)) who is well cast and fatherly as the good principal.
The tone is brimming with sentiment from the get-go, and the production is bright and family-friendly, - which also means that the other kids are almost overly photogenic and have issues that are not exactly gritty, - but the film's big and thoroughly sympathetic heart makes these notes redundant.
Wonder sports a message; 'Choose kind', which is as relevant today as it ever was, and which it drives home with touching skill. The lengthier version of it that is promoted in the film is this; when you have the opportunity to choose between doing what's right and doing what's kind, - choose kind. That wisdom also becomes a practical part of the story, which is great. The film should also be commended for also creating sympathy for its mean kid, SPOILER whose internal makeup is shown to have come from somewhere, (flawed parents.)
Wonder is the come-together cinema event for the whole family this season, a noble and great film that speaks equally to kids and adults and which you shouldn't miss.

Related posts:

Stephen Chbosky: 2017 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV] 
Top 10: Best 'box office success' movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2012 in films - according to Film Excess
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012) - An instant classic     

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 20 mil. $
Box office: 220.6 mil. $ and counting
= Too early to say - but already a mega-hit
[Wonder premiered 14 November (Los Angeles) and runs 113 minutes. The novel was inspired by Palacio's daughter crying at the sight of a child with a facial deformity. The film was announced in 2012. Tremblay was cast in 2016. His prosthetics took 1.5-2 hours to apply daily and half an hour to get off. Shooting took place in British Columbia, Canada and in New York from July - September 2016. The film opened #2, behind fellow new release Justice League, to an overwhelming 27.5 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for a total of 5 impressive weeks (#2-#3-#3-#3-#4). The film has upcoming releases in China, Poland, Germany, Sweden and the Czech Republic, winning hearts and minds where-ever it lands. It has been nominated for a BAFTA. Chbosky is set to return with a romance entitled Prince Charming, and Tremblay returns in Xavier Dolan's The Death and Life of John F. Donovan. Wonder is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Wonder?

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (2013) - Stiller's sweet, visually splendid Christmas present

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A carefully designed, neat poster for Ben Stiller's The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

 

Walter Mitty is a negative asset manager with LIFE magazine. He is a daydreamer, who, due to the magazine's closing, goes out on an adventure to locate a lost photograph.

In a way, Walter Mitty, co-produced, directed by and starring Ben Stiller (Zoolander (2001)), is an easy target to make fun of, because it could resemble a midlife crisis project for the star: SPOILER In it, among other things, he swims with a shark, survives a volcano eruption and climbs a mountain, - and one of the supporting characters at one point remarks that he is "as if Indiana Jones decided to join The Strokes!" But discarding the film on this basis would be a shame, because it is also a very pure-hearted project with an underlying humanism and joy to it, which, in any crisis period, is welcome.

The film at one point directly references Into the Wild (2007), - a film with a similar theme of self-discovery through adventure-seeking, but one that packs a major emotional punch, which Walter Mitty never gets near. It has lots of good music (including its score by Theodore Shapiro (Spy (2015))), which helps mask that the film's depth is very surface-bound. Visually, Walter Mitty is impressively sumptuous and skillfully designed, with cinematography by Stuart Dryburgh (Blackhat (2015)).

Stiller is good as the title character, in particular in his scenes with Kristen Wiig (Nasty Baby (2015)), which are incredibly sweet. Adam Scott (Krampus (2015)) makes a very credible a-hole, and Sean Penn (Fair Game (2010)) seems a bit involuntarily comedic as a photographer/philosopher.

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is written by Steve Conrad (The Pursuit of Happiness (2006)), based on James Thurber's (The Male Animal (1939, play)) same-titled 1939 short story, which was first adapted in 1947. It is a very sweet and uplifting film.

 

Related reviews:

 

Ben Stiller: While We're Young (2014) - Baumbach offers another observant, clever downer (actor)

Tower Heist (2011) - Ratner's so-so financial crisis comedy (actor)

I'm Still Here (2010) or, Joaquin Phoenix's Bad Joke (unsuspecting subject) 

Greenberg (2010) - Baumbach's uniquely downbeat LA-romance depressant (actor)

Blades of Glory (2007) - Copycat comedy about ice figure skating (producer)

The Cable Guy (1996) - Stiller's dark comedy is a riot

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 90 mil. $

Box office: 188.5 mil. $

= Flop

[The Secret Life of Walter Mitty premiered October 5 (New York Film Festival) and runs 114 minutes. The film had been in development ever since 1994, when producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr. had the idea to make another adaptation, following his producer father's 1947 film. Jim Carrey was set to star for years, and other filmmakers involved include, but are not limited to, Ron Howard, Steven Spielberg, Richard LaGravanese, Chuck Russell, Owen Wilson, Scarlett Johansson, Sacha Baron Cohen and Gore Verbinski. Stiller was finally announced as director-star in 2011. Filming took place in Iceland, Greenland, British Columbia, Canada, California and New York, including in the Time-Life Building, in and around May 2012. The film opened #7 to a 12.7 mil. $ first weekend in 2,909 theaters in North America, where it grossed 58.2 mil. $ (30.9 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 11.9 mil. $ (6.3 %) and Russia with 11.3 mil. $ (6 %). Had American audiences welcomed the film more enthusiastically, (their market share is unusually low for a homegrown, big movie), the film might have made a profit. It appeared on National Board of Review's top 10 list of the year and made an additional 15 mil. $ on DVDs and Blu-ray, which, if added to the gross, still doesn't change the film's flop status. The Secret Life of Walter Mitty is rotten at 51 % with a 6 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty?