If you work in any sort of service to the public, your fate is not your own. And our characters in this film, The Promotion, have very little control over their own fate. The film opens with the main character, Doug (Sean William Scott, or “Stifler”, for some of you), seems really slow. And I don’t mean in the “special needs” way, I just mean… well, almost sedated. He works in a grocery store (the fictional Donaldson’s), where everything is quiet, slow, and almost sterile-looking, except for the occasional employee helping himself to store products (picture a 400-pound guy lifting up his shirt to use deodorant from the shelf, and then returning it). And, after an introduction, you get the impression that the environment created by the store has browbeaten Doug to the point of becoming a drone with a Donaldson’s-brand drooling grin on his face. The daily brunt of confrontations Doug has no chance of ever winning have defeated him: rude customers, kids in the parking lot who intimidate everyone, bitchy customer comment cards, and on and on. But Doug finds a light at the end of the tunnel that seems to wake him up – the promise of a new store opening that has an opening for manager. And even Doug’s current boss claims Doug is a shoo-in for it.

That is, until, Doug is given another win-less confrontation: Richard, a seemingly golden employee from a sister store in Canada. And that shoo-in has become a question mark. Doug already had his heart set on a home, which he can’t afford without the promotion. Richard seems like the new shoo-in when he easily schmoozes the higher-ups, steals chat time with a representative from Pepsi, and begins offering advice to co-workers. But then, we see that Richard is at the mercy of the store just as much as Doug is. Richard falls for jokes played on him by Hispanic co-workers, is blamed for misunderstandings, and generally has a gift for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. And so a sort of war starts between the two to get the upper hand for the promotion. But, by war, I mean a sort of slow-moving, petty, immature back and forth limp-wristed slap fest. And it works.

The Promotion is a very dry, dark comedy that moves very thoughtfully and deliberately. And that’s a good thing. I definitely walked in expecting a DUH DUH comedy after associating Scott with Dukes of Hazzard and American Pie, and associating Reilly with Walk Hard and Talladega Nights – and it wasn’t. Ads and reviews suggested the film was a smart, clever, comedy – and it wasn’t. And I liked it.

For the first time I can remember, I just went out of my way to fill out a customer comment card to leave positive feedback. Because, really, most of us fill one out when something royally pisses us off. They’re less comment cards than they are bitch cards. But I figured, after seeing this movie, my karma could stand to have some good vibes sent my way.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆