Demoted

Released by Anchor Bay
Date released: 6.4.12
Directed by: J.B. Rogers
Starring: Michael Vartan, Sean Astin, Celia Watson, David Cross
Purchase From Amazon

The Movie

“Office comedies” is an interesting sub-genre of entertainment, going back to perhaps what could best be termed as urban realism where stories detailed the rat race-realities that faced a post-war economy and came to epitomize both the American dream and American workplace drudgery. And while Mike Judge's 1999 Office Space and Ricky Gervais/Stephen Merchant's original The Office resurrected and re-oriented the genre the comedy at the core remained the same as older movies like 1, 2, 3! and 9 To 5 - namely, the outrageous banality and ridiculousness of office life and the demeaning power trips often associated with that environment.

The latest release in this line of film comedies is Demoted, the story of a pair of salesmen jerks who's work lives get turned upside down, giving them a chance to become decent human beings. Hotshot salesmen Rodney (Michael Vartan) and Mike (Sean Astin) are arrogant, demeaning douchebags who also really have it in for their inept sales colleague Ken Castro (David Cross). They are borderline cruel toward him while being just a-holes to everyone else, especially toward the female secretaries at the tire production company where they all work.

Out celebrating one night with the main boss (an oddly-acting Robert Klein) Rodney and Mike apparently overdo it, giving the boss a fatal heart attack. The next day his successor is already appointed and, for some reason unknown to the audience beyond being a very handy plot contrivance, Castro gets the job. And he wastes no time in using his new position to turn the tables on Rodney and Mike. Knowing that firing them wouldn't be sufficient punishment Castro instead demotes them to entry-level secretaries. Neither the pair nor the secretaries, led by the formidable Jane (Celia Weston), are happy about this situation. So the ensuing montages feature Rodney and Mike failing miserably at their jobs thanks to wacky paper-spewing printers, malfunctioning printers, file folders and the like. But, for some reason, none of their new bosses fire them so they have to keep at it, lousy as they are.

Outside the office their lives aren't much better - Mike still lives in his parents' basement, having preferred a life of laziness, blowing his income on man's vices (booze and strippers, apparently); Rodney has a great fiancee, Jennifer (Sara Foster), who's father (Patrick St Esprit) is a grade-A a-hole. Put on the spot by her father Rodney states that he got a promotion at work rather than his demotion. This, then, in turn creates further tension as he has to keep lying to Jennifer more and more to keep up his ruse.

In true Hollywood fashion the two jerks become much more tolerable losers who then find their meaning and purpose in life to a positive ending. And this is problematic for the film in that it sets Rodney and Mike up as such jerks it's very tough to then turn them into sympathetic characters. Simply getting them in touch with their feminine side - which happens due to them working now with a team of women - doesn't quite cut it but, thankfully, the film doesn't stop there. It actually makes them not only sympathetic to women in the workplace but also gets them to identify with them, to undergo the petty and dismissive treatment these women receive in the workplace. As the pair then finally assert themselves in their new roles they only do so for the sake of their new friends at work. So the women finally see changes only when men take the step toward identifying with them. Insert here.

At the same time, Castro turns out to be an actual jerk of a boss whom most everyone dislikes and who soon runs afoul of corporate as well. This helps make Rodney and Mike's plight more sympathetic, too. And when the pair of them and Jane do what Castro could not when they land the big account (a retail auto parts company led by a nice cameo from Billy West) they all move up while it's then Castro's turn to get demoted himself. And everyone's all smiles. Roll credits.

Audio/Video/Extras

This BD from Anchor Bay comes in 1.78:1 widescreen so it's more like a made-for-TV presentation but that works here since it's not distracting at all. The 1080p image quality is very solid and very consistent but, then again, it's never really tasked to handle much here at all - a couple scenes in strip bars rather than outdoors or inside an office building are the extremes. Likewise the Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track is very solid but never stretched, except maybe with the pop songs playing during the montages. English SDH and Spanish subtitles are available - and those are the only other options here on this disc.

Summary

It takes a bit to find its footing but Demoted eventually settles into a nice little groove that's fairly pleasant. Sure, it's not laugh-out-loud funny but it's got a decent amount of heart to it and doesn't take itself too seriously - so long as you ignore its politics where women only make advancement when men notice them.

Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!