I Really Hate My Job (2007/Magnolia DVD)

 

Picture: C     Sound: C/C+     Extras: C-     Feature: C

 

 

Oliver Parker’s I Really Hate My Job (2007) is a lame, predictable and sometimes embarrassingly bad comedy about ladies who work at a restaurant that thinks it is a clever comedy, but is more like the gross out comedy Waiting attempting to be an art film.  Having an all-female cast led by the viable Neve Campbell changes nothing and except for the appeal her co-stars and herself, this is quickly preposterous and wears thin in its 90 minutes.

 

The bit about a loose mouse in the eatery is dumb beyond belief and some of the dialogue is just flat, leaving the acting stuck with little to do or say that we have not heard before a hundred times.  Having a male director helm a female-penned screenplay (by Jennifer Higgie) is another problem, as Parker shows he cannot grasps the point of view, leading to incoherence that further sabotages anything that could have worked here.  It almost demeans the women and is best skipped.

 

The anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is soft and adds the shaky camerawork and you have a tired look throughout.  The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is simple, yet has some harshness, but is still better than the surprisingly bad 5.1 mix that is far too compressed and at a volume so low that you should use caution in playing it back and switching to any other audio source.  Previews for other Magnolia DVDs are the only extra.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo