Get a Job

Get a job! It's a simple sentence, but it gives rise to many difficult questions. (What kind of job do I want? Where do I look to find the right one? How do I get them to hire me?) And then, when you get a job, there's another set of challenges. (How do I do this job? What indignities am I willing to suffer to keep this job? When do I move on and try to get a better job?) Sometimes, the job you get doesn't work out and you have to start asking those same questions all over again. An all-star cast of well-known movie and TV actors deals with these issues – and others, in the well-titled comedy "Get a Job" (R, 1:23).

Will (Miles Teller), Ethan (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), Charlie (Nicholas Braun) and Luke (Brandon T. Jackson) are pot-smoking, video game playing L.A. housemates who have recently graduated from college. The four of them, as well as Will's girlfriend, Jillian (Anna Kendrick) are at various stages of trying to figure out how best to make money in the world of grown-ups. Charlie is about to start a job as a junior high school science teacher (for which he seems quite unqualified) and basketball coach (ditto). Luke's dream is to work as a stock broker, but his entry-level position working in the firm managed by Mr. Diller (John C. McGinley) has Luke taking orders for just about everything but stocks. Ethan believes he's going to make his way in the world by developing and selling a smart-phone app called "IstalkU".

But the main focus of the movie is on Teller's character. As the movie opens, Will believes he has turned two summers of unpaid interning at the L.A. Weekly into a full-time job as their new tech writer… until one of the editors (John Cho) tells him differently. Will gets a job as a night-shift desk clerk in a cheap hotel run by an unscrupulous hotel manager (Marc Maron), but that job only lasts until local pimp "Skeezy D" (Jay Pharoah) messes things up for Will. Surprisingly, however, Will's association with Skeezy D indirectly helps him secure a great job as a videographer for a firm which producers video resumes and secures interviews for people seeking upper-level management positions. Will convinces Lawrence Willheimer (Bruce Davison) to hire him, but he soon finds out that taking orders from harsh and demanding CEO Katherine Dunn (Marcia Gay Harden) and dealing with sexual advances from a co-worker (Alison Brie) makes the job a little less desirable than he first thought it would be. A mysteriously omnipresent janitor (Jorge Garcia) ends up helping Will out, but while Will is trying to navigate the choppy waters of interoffice politics, he also has to deal with the fallout from both his girlfriend and his father (Bryan Cranston) losing their respective jobs – and the misadventures of his friends on their jobs.

This is a rather unusual movie in a few different ways. It's a comedy, but delivers an important message to its target audience. Although the challenge of getting and keeping a good job is seen through the eyes of several people at different stages of their working lives, the focus is on the generation known as the Millenials. Characters within this generation that is often derided for a sense of entitlement and lack of motivation are shown learning necessary lessons that will equip them for success in the future, while remaining true to themselves and pursuing their dreams. The film's ability to simultaneously validate, teach and encourage Millenials is unusual, but so is the amount of time this film took to get to theaters.

"Get a Job" was filmed in early 2012. Anna Kendrick said in a 2014 interview that the film had encountered "distribution problems". Whatever the specific reasons for the delay, it's interesting to note that in the four years between this movie being shot and made available to the public, these are just some of the projects that a few of the main cast filmed AND saw released: "Fantastic Four", "Whiplash", "The Spectacular Now" and three "Divergent" films (Teller); "Cake", "Into the Woods" and "Pitch Perfect 2" (Kendrick); "How to Be Single", "Get Hard", "Sleeping with Other People" and "The Lego Movie" (Brie); "Neighbors", "Kick-Ass 2" and "This is the End" (Mintz-Plasse); "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot", "How to Be Single", "The Stanford Prison Experiment", and "Poltergeist" (Braun); "Fifty Shades of Grey", "Grandma" and "Parkland" (Harden); plus "Kung Fu Panda 3", "Trumbo", "Godzilla" and the end of "Breaking Bad" (Cranston). Just sayin'.

Whether the delay in the film's release, or the low scores it has received on various websites, raise too many red flags to ignore is, of course, up to the individual Movie Fan, but this Movie Fan is giving "Get a Job" a moderate recommendation. The cast is easy of the eyes and fun to watch. The story is a bit disjointed and is a little short on laughs, but it's often charming and approaches real issues with truth and compassion. The movie tells its tale in a meaningful and pretty entertaining way. "B"

Will Davis (Miles Teller) and Jillian Stewart (Anna Kendrick) are a recent graduate couple with jobs lined up. It's an overconfident generation where every little accomplishment is greeted with rewards. Will's first paying job at LA Weekly is greeted with downsizing. He and his roommates are weed-smoking video-gamers. Luke (Brandon T. Jackson) starts at a trading firm. Ethan (Christopher Mintz-Plasse) has a questionable internet idea. Charlie (Nicholas Braun) is a teacher. Will gets a motel night manager job and quickly gets fired. His dad (Bryan Cranston) also gets downsized and faces the new landscape. Tanya Sellers (Alison Brie) is an inappropriate manager and Katherine Dunn (Marcia Gay Harden) is the strict VP.

There are so many good young actors and skilled veterans in the cast. None of the characters are worth rooting for. There are too many of them and with too many stories. There are lots of attempts at humor but few actual laughs. It has to be the fault of the writers and director. Even the basic premise of a generation of underachievers being rewarded is questionable. Neither Will nor Jillian is presented as slackers. Ethan is delusional and only Charlie truly fits the premise. In fact, Charlie brings the premise to its conclusion. This is so scattered that nothing sticks. If these actors weren't so good, this would really suck.

Not all that good but possible worth a watch on a rainy Sunday afternoon.

...Unless they decided to fart around with some rooks, wannabes and others trying to make a name for themselves. A chosen few actors picked their scripts, the rest needed a job. Movie isn't very funny, though what I do think was very funny was the fact these 4 seasoned actors more than likely did decide to fart around.

Despite of a cast with some really big names such as Anna Kendrick, Bryan Cranston, Christopher Mintz Plasse, Marcia Gay Harden, Jorge Garcia, John C McGuinly, Brandon T Jackson, Ravi Patel this was filmed in 2012 but it was not released until 2016.

Once you've seen it it's not terribly hard to see why, it tries to squeeze in a little too much than it can handle in a very short running time (74 minutes without credits) to the point that it get a little confusing at times.

Which it's definitely not meant to be as this is meant to be a easy going comedy influenced by 80's coming of age comedies but set in present day.

But it's far from all bad though, there are some seriously funny stand-alone gags and Miles Teller is a pretty good lead and I could have swore he was John Cusack's son (he sure looks like it).

In the end I kind of enjoyed it but I felt like it should have been a lot more fleshed out, not sure if perhaps it was longer at some point and the studio mercilessly cut it down because they felt like it didn't have enough substance to be a 100 minute movie or whatever.

Which caused it to often lack coherence and flow, whatever it may be despite it's flaws I definitely didn't dislike it, it helps if you like the cast, just don't expect a big movie experience.

5.5/10