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Demoted
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Anchor Bay Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Ethan Stevenson (29th July 2012). |
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The Film
 It’s sorta like “Office Space” (1999), only, not as funny. If I had to sum up my thoughts on “Demoted”, a new direct-to-video workplace comedy from, as the quote on the cover puts it, “the guys behind of the ‘American Pie’ series”—the truer statement would be from that one guy who was an AD on the first “American Pie” (1999) movie (and directed “American Pie 2” (2001)), and another who was one of the eight “Pie” producers—that’d be it in a sentence. Of course, the reason why my review isn’t a single sentence long is because the situation with “Demoted” is rather more complex; it isn’t simply an “Office Space” clone that’s not as funny. It's different...ish and might be closer to “9 to 5” (1980), only the gender roles are kinda reversed and instead of a busty Dolly Parton, audiences are treated to a fat hobbit in a suit with a five o’clock shadow. Mike (Sean Astin) and Rodney (Michael Vartan) are a terrible, taunting twosome at the Treadline Tire Company; top in sales, but absolute assholes to almost everyone in the office. They’re especially hard on Ken “Don’t Call Me Kenny” Castro (David Cross), the co-worker who’s usually their most fired upon target, hit with some lame and tame gay jokes and other sorts of immature nonsense. Treadline’s an old company in more ways than one—perfect for the 30-something duo who seemingly never really left the frat house, even after college—and some of the stuff that goes on the floor, and behind closed doors, might make even Don Draper and the others at Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce blush. The place is a total Boys Club. The secretaries are treated like shit; especially by Mike and Rodney, who spend their lunch hour at strip clubs and scoring runs for the company baseball team. But everything changes for the twosome when their buddy boss (Robert Klein)—who was just as crass as them—dies of a heart attack during one of the usual celebratory boozed up binges after a particularly successful game. Corporate promotes the salesman with the most seniority to fill the boss role, and unluckily for Mike and Rodney, Kenny has worked at Treadline far longer than anyone. Ken is quick to exact his revenge, and rather than fire his nemeses—for fear they’d enjoy a sweet severance package—he demotes them to the most demoralizing job in the office: Secretary. They can’t quit—they try, but find themselves unemployable because they’re sexist and stupid, at least socially—so they accept the jobs and all the harassment and horribleness that comes with it. Rodney winds up making the copies and coffee runs for a southern gentleman—actually a loud mouth drunk—played by a hairpiece attached to the top of Blue Collar comedian Ron White’s head (if that's his real hair...). Meanwhile, Mike finds himself working for an attractive accountant named Elizabeth (Constance Zimmer), brought in to look over the books while Treadline tries to land the biggest business deal in company history with one of the largest auto part retailers in the country. Of course, over time the boys learn that the secretaries they treated so terribly—Jane (Celia Weston), Olivia (Cathy Shim), Betty (Cleo King) and several others—aren’t just someone they can bond with over a mutual hatred of Kenny Castro, but actually really wonderful people too. It’s kind of unfortunate—although definitely not something I’ll lose any sleep over—that “Demoted” will forever be compared to Mike Judge’s smart office satire and subgenre standard “Office Space”. Not because the viewer isn't probably constantly conscious of the better movie—I certainly was; there’s a universal truth to much of Judge’s film, so of course I thought of it often—but because most of the superficialities aside, “Demoted” really has its own story. (There’s no red stapler-y or “Superman III” (1983)-esque money-laundering subplot in this movie; like, at all). But the marketing people—at least those who work in designing Blu-ray cover art—have pretty blatantly forced the connection. Cross’ photoshopped hand with the coffee mug might as well say, “Um, yeah, about those TPS reports, Peter…” But, beside the fact that both films are about people who work in offices, and the similar situations that occur in such a setting—busted copiers, perverse printers and the like—there are few obvious attempts by the “Demoted” crew to conciously ape the superior satire. (Well, you might say that David Cross’ character also has one scene, with his Nissan in the parking lot that is like Bill Lumbergh and his Porsche, but that’s really pushing it). The comedy in “Demoted” mostly comes in the form of slight commentary, on gender in the workplace, and the awkwardness that comes from having these men do what’s seen as “women’s work”. While that might sound offensive, and of the off-putting fratboy variety, “Demoted” quickly makes note to interject at every point just how unfair the gender dichotomy in the workforce is. And that little difference turns so many of the gags that would be majorly misogynistic, into something more tolerable and almost—if not quite—smart. Of course, the script by Dan Callahan is plotted with predictability and banal moments of utter unoriginality, which undermines some of that slight smartness, which never really gets developed beyond the idea stage. Romantic subplots are forced into the formula, to pad the runtime and add more means by which traditional, trope-tastic, comedy can assumedly ensue. Rodney has trouble at home with his fiancé (Sara Foster) and her family as they plan a wedding—much of this storyline revolves around Rodney keeping his demotion from the wifey-to-be, disguising it as a promotion when confronted. And Mike, a noncommittal ladies man, suddenly finds himself falling for Liz, the accountant, and his storyline has all the bumbling buffoonery that comes with that old cliché. Director J.B. Rogers mixes R-rated raunchiness and grossness with slight sentimentality, much as he and several others did with the “American Pie” movies, and while the tone is uneven at times, it’s at least consistent in that most things are meant to be comedic, even if they aren’t always funny. The acting is decent. Astin plays his part well; Vartan is fine as the everyman, and Cross makes a few memorable remarks, when he isn’t wallowing in poop (yes; he actually does have a scene where that happens). “Demoted” is a largely forgettable and predictable, but passably entertaining 94-minutes, and the similarities between it and “Office Space’ occur unintentionally, I think, existing simply because the broad subject matter is the same. Nothing more. Nothing less. Of course, all that doesn’t change that, at every turn, because Mike Judge’s cubicle comedy is so ubiquitous with the subgenre, I couldn’t help but be reminded of how “Office Space” was the better movie. Even if I did come away thinking “Demoted” wasn’t too bad either. Just definitely mediocre. But, ultimately, watchable.
Video
Betraying its low-budget origins, “Demoted” was shot on 16mm film and looks it. That’s not to say the 1.78:1 widescreen 1080p 24/fps AVC MPEG-4 encoded high definition transfer is a total disaster—far from it—but the disc is sort of soft on detail and heavy on grain, and has a less defined look than something that was shot on more traditional 35mm or digital-HD video. The image is mostly low-key and naturally neutral. Skintones are lifelike, if a tad pale at times. Contrast is muted, mostly favoring a flat midrange, with whites that are bright, to the point of occasionally blooming in exteriors, and blacks that are decent but not particularly deep. For the most part, the disc looks good, even if it isn’t always super sharp. And Anchor Bay’s encode handles the material well, without succumbing to too many instances of bothersome banding or an abundance of ugly artifacts or poorly compressed grain reduced to noise. Finished on a Digital Intermediate, the source is as spotless as expected. That’s not to say “Demoted” is perfect. There are a smattering of questionable shots, which appear just a tad processed; a few frames have the look of being artificially sharpened and/or digitally scrubbed to fix issues in the image, but I think these few flaws trace back to the original photography or are moments of intentional tweaking in post (as though these select shots were perhaps too out of focus, and sharpened up in the editing bay or mastering suite). Overall, the Blu-ray release of “Demoted” appears to reasonably reproduce the intended look of the source material and manages to provide a good-but-not-great HD image at the same time.
Audio
Good but not great is the mantra for the audio as well. Most know the drill; comedy equals front focused and generally dull, but otherwise perfectly fine mix. The lossless English Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track on “Demoted” is that in a nutshell. It features clean dialog and a solid music soundtrack, but little atmosphere and absolutely nothing that makes me think “sonic standout”. Aside from two crowd scenes during the secretary strike, the rear speakers are almost entirely silent; the score is forgettable. The disc is nothing to write (home or otherwise) about, but it gets the job done. English and Spanish subtitles are also included.
Extras
Where are the extras—outsourced? There isn’t a single supplement pertaining to “Demoted” on this barebones Blu-ray disc. A bonus trailer for Nic Cage’s latest experiment in seeing just how far he can go before people stop signing his paychecks—something called “Seeking Justice” (2.40:1 1080p, 2 minutes 4 seconds), coming soon to Blu-ray and DVD—plays before a very basic menu, though.
Packaging
“Demoted” is promoted to high-def via a single-layer BD-25 from Anchor Bay Home Entertainment. The disc is locked to Region A and packaged in an eco-Elite keepcase.
Overall
“Demoted” is a passably entertaining workplace comedy. It’s not what the marketing people want you to think at all—certainly not of the same quality as “Office Space” or even “American Pie”—but it’s a suitable time-waster, if you’re in need of a little distraction. The Blu-ray has faithful, slightly above average audio and video but no extras. Probably best left to a rental.
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