The Promotion

THE PROMOTION (2008) - Apr. 6, 2009
About a guy who competes with a French Canadian (John C. Reilly, sporting a bizarre accent that I'm assuming is supposed to be Canadian) for a promotion, this was Steve Conrad's directorial debut (he also wrote the Weather Man). It's not quite as good as that film, however -- Seann William Scott was surprisingly good in the main role, but still didn't make for as compelling a protagonist as Nicolas Cage in the Weather Man. Also, Conrad's direction was good, but Virbinski's was better. I know it's not really fair to compare the two films, but they're so similar that it's hard not to -- this pretty much feels like a thematic sequel to that film. ***