Thursday 7 April 2016

Film Review: Get a Job


Get a Job is a coming-of-age dramedy starring Anna Kendrick and Miles Teller as a young loved-up couple struggling to get their foot in the door after graduating from college.

Jillian (Kendrick) and Will (Teller) are two millennials with lofty expectations of life, but when they both get knocked back from jobs that seemed like dead certs, they find that unemployment and the associated struggles start to drive a wedge between their loving partnership.

Will, along with his also recently unemployed father Roger (Bryan Cranston), must roll up their sleeves and get serious about job hunting if they want to get their lives back on track - but complications along the way show that life has another plan in mind.

Given the current situation I find myself in, this is a film that should've resonated with me on multiple levels; in the last 18 months I've graduated from uni, moved straight into work, been offered redundancy only a year later and have since bummed around scouting for my next break. I've attended something like four dozen job interviews in the past six months and gotten a lot of knock backs, sometimes at the final hurdle. In short: I get it. This film is my frickin' life story right now.

But does that make Get a Job any good, or worth checking out? Not in the fucking slightest.

Let's start with some of the worst aspects. The ensemble cast, which also includes Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Alison Brie and Jorge Garcia, all play generally unlikeable, self-satisfied assholes or exaggerated caricatures. Teller is his usual smarmy, spoiled brattish persona whilst Mintz-Plasse just lounges on the sofa smoking weed, playing Halo and watching porn. Woo, millennials!

Brie's character is, for want of a better word, a sex predator who gropes and leers at anyone with male genitals. Do women like this exist in the real world? Because it feels like Brie's character is one jammed printer away from appearing in literal porn film. I love you, Alison Brie, I really do - but c'mon, you need a better agent - like, yesterday.

The only ray of light in this cesspool of trash in Kendrick. Her character is written terribly (she's a pushover who is dating a douche and for some reason sticks around even though he's literally never nice to her in the slightest), but her performance is at least tinged with some degree of sincerity or likability. Sadly, she's sidelined for most of the film; her subplot is pushed aside in favour of Teller's overbearing gurning.

The biggest issue with Get a Job (aside from the awful dialouge, editing, sound and direction) is the tone. For whatever reason, the film treats its subject matter with bewildering irreverence and vulgarity. It's more interested in following Teller as he visits strip clubs, gets drunk, takes drugs, masturbates and plays video games than it is with examining the prospects of young adults in today's job market.

In short, don't waste your time or money on this film - even if it is barely 80 minutes long, your life is richer for having not witnessed the trainwreck that is Get a Job.

Holy shit, what a waste of brilliant cast...

The Verdict: 2/10


I'll leave you with this final thought; this film features a scene where a character is bullied into drinking deer cum so that he can earn the respect of his boss. After drinking the semen, he projectile vomits onto the faces of three other characters.

If that doesn't tell you everything you need to know, I don't know what will.

Get a Job is available on VOD now

2 comments:

  1. Yes yes yes! I felt the EXACT same way before watching this, and I hated every minute of it. Mine and Jenna's review is coming very soon, but yeah, it's such a waste of a brilliant cast.
    - Allie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Allie! Hard to believe such a talented cast can sign onto something so shit. Thanks for commenting.

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