Get a Job

Get a Job was a mediocre comedy movie staring Miles Teller and his girlfriend Anna Kendrick as recent college graduates who have a hard time getting decent jobs. We could all relate one way or another, where we are lost at sea till someone or something helps us along the way. The characters discover that the most important adventures are those you don't see coming. Bryan Cranston played Mikes' father as he loses his job along the way and hides his secret from his family. The all star cast also included Allison Brie as part of middle management associate, Brandon Jackson and Christopher Mintz-Piasse as Teller's roommates who are also jobless. Marcia Gay Harden is the over the top CEO, Jorge Garcia as the janitor, Jay Pharoah as the sleepy pimp, a brief appearance by John Cho, as well as John C. McGinley and Bruce Davidson. If it wasn't for the cast, I wouldn't have watched it but it was okay to watch once.

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.

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

Let me start by saying that everything in Get a Job is atrocious except one thing: the acting. If these stars weren't attached to the movie nobody would bat an eye at this thing. It's so awful. I audibly "ugh"-ed when it finished. The message this movie tries to convey is that it's hard to find a job, so you have to stop smoking pot and be determined and never give up and do whatever it takes to get a job. Or don't get a job and be an entrepreneur. The movie throws that one in at the end. A stupid message in the first place because, hey, not everyone has the same circumstances. This type of movie can only resonate with a niche crowd, but worse than that the writing is just dreadful. Cringe-City is what this movie should've been called. I felt bad for Miles Teller having to deliver these cliché lines like, "Never stop believing." Sorry Get a Job but I learned that lesson from Journey a long time ago. Bryan Cranston and Alison Brie try to have fun in their roles, and they really brighten up the mood, but it isn't nearly enough. Anna Kendrick is forced into this shell of a character who gets fired and can't get back on her feet so she succumbs to the evils of weed and laziness. When Anna Kendrick can't be adorable for every second she's on screen, then you know you have a problem.

The problem is literally everything else. The writing, the directing, the editing, the f*cking music, it all SUCKS. It's painful. It's one of those movies where you know if the actors weren't already attached to the project, it would've never been made. But the money was there so they hired great actors and they forgot about the rest of the crew so they got people on the street to do direct and their pet cat to write and who needs an editor anyway? The cat can do it! It's like an amateur film at points. I'll be honest, I chuckled a couple of times. And by a couple of times I mean it. I chuckled twice. Maybe smiled a few more times, but for a majority of Get a Job I was either cringing or frustrated at the fact that it was even greenlit and released. This movie... just...

UGH.

...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.