Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Search cinema listings

Browse cinemas A-Z

Search 20,000 reviews

 

The Promotion (2008)

Director: Steven Conrad

2
Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out New York

Making good use of unlikely Chicago locations, The Promotion follows a pair of assistant supermarket managers, Doug (Scott) and Richard (Reilly), who vie for the same job. Doug has toiled away with comment cards and disgruntled customers for years; the more glad-handing and equally qualified Richard has just come down from Canada. (Somewhere, perhaps, the movie thinks it’s saying something about immigration.)

Conventions dictate that this would be a comedy of one-upmanship, in which Doug and Richard attempt to make each other look like fools, but that’s not exactly the case. By far the most interesting aspect of the movie is the way that Doug, eager to buy a new house, instinctively feels the need to compete so fiercely with the hapless Richard—a recovering addict working to save a shaky marriage (Taylor, as his wife, sports a curious Scottish accent). This is the American Dream at its most mindlessly ruthless

It’s a difficult mix of sympathies to pull off, and writer-director Steve Conrad (who wrote the similarly tone-deaf The Weather Man) can’t quite hold it together. What we get is either a drama that never takes itself seriously—or a comedy that’s rarely funny.

Author: Ben Kenigsberg 2008-06-03 17:50:20

Time Out New York Issue 662: June 5–June 11, 2008


  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Get 2 for 1 cinema tickets with Orange Click Here

Cast & crew

Director: Steven Conrad

Cast: Seann William Scott, John C Reilly, Jenna Fischer, Lili Taylor, Gil Bellows full cast

Duration: 86 mins

US Release: Jun 6 2008

Related articles




Top Stories

Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade

Time Out's 101 Films of the Decade

Ten years, thousands of movies and millions of dollars in international box office, and it all boils down to this

Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'

Martin Provost discusses 'Séraphine'

Trevor Johnston talks to the director of 'Séraphine' about bringing a little known French painter back to life

Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones

Our verdict on Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones

Peter Jackson ends a triumphant decade with a sentimental misfire with this lush Alice Sebold adaptation

On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'

On the set of Ken Loach's 'Route Irish'

Dave Calhoun meets Ken Loach on the set of his forthcoming Iraq war movie

Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'

Stephen Poliakoff discusses 'Glorious 39'

Stephen Poliakoff’s ‘Glorious 39’ is his first film for cinema since ‘Food of Love’ in 1997. Dave Calhoun met him

Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?

Is 'Paranormal Activity' the new 'Blair Witch'?

How does a film go from DIY experiment to box-office smash? 'Paranormal Activity' director Oren Peli explains

Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'

Steven Soderbergh on 'The Informant!' and 'The Girlfriend Experience'

We talk to Steven Soderbergh about his two forthcoming films: one featuring a porn star, the other a chubby Matt Damon

A gateway to all things 'New Moon'

A gateway to all things 'New Moon'

In anticipation of 'The Twilight Saga: New Moon', Time Out is offering the chance to pick up a limited edition pack with three exclusive magazines and a free poster.

The films that deserve a TV spin-off

The films that deserve a TV spin-off

With Roland Emmerich suggesting he'd like to make a '2012' TV spin-off, we propose some more movie-to-TV serialisations

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

Time Out's 50 greatest animated films with commentary by Terry Gilliam

In celebration of the release of Pixar's 'Up' and Wes Anderson's 'Fantastic Mr Fox', read our rundown of fifty classic feature length animations