BEFORE: This seems like an appropriate follow-up to "Horrible Bosses", because it also features a scheme to get ahead in the corporate world, and of course that scheme's probably going to go awry. The Jennifer Aniston chain rolls on...
THE PLOT: A woman working on an advertising career is passed up for promotion because she's 'not stable enough', still being single and having no ties to the company. A story is made up about her being engaged to Nick, a guy whom she just met at a friend's wedding, and all seems to work out, but events soon take a dramatic turn.
AFTER: I admit I was a little confused about this film, I think in my mind I mixed it up with "The Object of My Affection", which is not on my list. I kept thinking Jay Mohr's character would reveal that he was gay, but no, that's the other movie.
I'm not sure that I buy the premise of this one, which sort of naturally assumes that women have to work twice as hard in the advertising business to earn half as much. This may have been true back in the "Mad Men" era, but I think things are a little better now. I work in a field adjacent to advertising, and I know there are a ton of women working in the field now, some in very prominent positions.
Aniston's character here has a pitch that wins an account for her agency, but she's not assigned the position of lead creative - maybe because she's only been at the company for a few weeks, and she's had exactly ONE great idea. Perhaps there are other people at the company who've been around longer and have a proven track record, that's all I'm saying. Anyway, the implication here is that the boss won't give her a promotion because she's single and doesn't own a house or a car, so she could take another job at any time. There seems to be some faulty logic here, and that's a very nosy boss!
Plus, I don't think you can make snap judgments like that based on someone's work history. One of my major tasks at work is to maintain this huge database of over 15,000 people who work in advertising - including the companies they've worked for, which accounts they've worked on, with their current addresses, e-mails, cell phone numbers, and in some cases, their spouses' names and personal hobbies. And this is for an industry where people change jobs frequently, or can freelance for 5 or 6 agencies in the course of a year. You know how they're always painting the Golden Gate Bridge? When they reach one end of the bridge, it's time to go back and start over again. It's kind of like that with my database - when I'm done updating it, it's almost time to start updating it again.
But from where I sit, I've just about seen it all - people changing jobs, getting married, divorced, hyphenating their names, moving to another job to be with someone, or perhaps to get away from someone else. And now that there's Facebook and LinkedIn, I've added people's pictures and a lot more resumé info - you can call it cyber-stalking, but I call it research. (And just like the agency people in this film, I'm gearing up for the big football/commercial blitz this weekend - the Super Bowl, which is, well, kind of like our Super Bowl.)
But, I've never seen anyone invent a fake boyfriend to get ahead in her career. The plan was to demonstrate to her boss that she's a stable individual, and then have her boyfriend break up with her very publicly, due to all of the time she spends working, which also shows the boss what a hard worker she is. It's a genius plan on paper - the only thing simpler would be actually putting in the extra hours and making sure the boss knows about it.
What to make of a central character who is so manipulative? She doesn't seem to have a problem with lying, she doesn't care who gets hurt, as long as the desired result is achieved. So, advertising is the perfect career for her! What concerns me more than the fake boyfriend is the casual sex with a co-worker, who's only interested in her BECAUSE she's engaged to someone else. Yeah, that's a red flag. But she doesn't seem to mind, so it seems like she's got commitment issues.
But, will she realize in time that the fake relationship has more potential than the casual one? (take a guess...)
Also starring Jay Mohr (last seen in "Hereafter"), Kevin Bacon (last seen in "X-Men: First Class"), Olympia Dukakis, Ileana Douglas (last seen in "Chasing Amy"), Kevin Dunn (last seen in "All the King's Men"), with cameos from Faith Prince, Kaley Cuoco.
RATING: 4 out of 10 storyboards
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