day 57 - Entry Level

OK film fans, the day is Saturday, the hour is late, and I am your host for Procrastination Theater. For the last couple of weeks I've been in a funk, something just isn't quite right in my life and changes need to be made. But change is hard, whether it's in a relationship, your work or personal. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to take a first step into darkness, into the unknown and believe in yourself and trust your instincts.

Entry Level is another small indie film with production quality that teeters on the "Lifetime Network" edge. But while the film making is pedestrian the story is apropos of our times of economic woe. It's sort of like the flip side of Oscar nominee Up in the Air; we get a look at the lives of the unemployed as they maneuver through the dread of searching for a new job. Clay (D.B. Sweeney from the "where are they now" files) is a talented chef who's 2nd restaurant has just gone under. To compound matters his girlfriend decides their relationship isn't "the one" and bails on him as he sits on the couch mocking Giada's cooking show. Clay decides that since he's pushing 40 he's had his fill of working in the food biz; he hated working for others and is depressed about the loss of chairs, tables and dishes that took him weeks to pick out and the foreclosure movers 30 minutes to take away. He decides it's time to find something more stable and get a corporate job.

However, with nearly 20 years spent working in a restaurants Clay has no "corporate" skill-set to speak of, meaning he is barely a candidate for even entry level work. After meeting with his unemployment counselor, who all but tells Clay he is wasting his time and should stick to the field he knows, Clay hits the circuit looking for a job with several other regulars who refer to themselves as the Unemployable Interviewees of America. Liz (Missi Pyle) spent her 20s and then some traveling the globe in the Peace Corp and has discovered her experience digging wells Bangladesh isn't a marketable skill stateside. Bob is a 64 year old former manufacturing engineer whose company went under taking his pension with it. He makes the rounds waiting to reach retirement age, too young for a Wal-Mart greeter and too old for an administrative assistant. Charlie (the epically sardonic actor/comedian Taylor Negron) was a corporate hiring manager who so hated his previous job he only hired interviewees he hated since he felt working for the company should be a form of punishment. Clay is also spurred along by the conspicuous wisdom of his homeless buddy Nick (the omnipresent Kurtwood Smith), who seems to understand the position Clay is in better than he does himself.

Clay and his fellow job seekers strive for some dignity and hope for success while suffering through interviews that are both pointless and humiliating. Before joining the ranks of the unemployed, Charlie, in the funniest scene in the film, interviews Clay for a job. Once they both agree to dismiss with the banalities we get the following exchange.

Charlie: You're about 40 years old, why would you ever want to get a job where you will have to take orders from a 28 year old ass wipe?
Clay: Cause it beats having no job at all.
Charlie: What do you base that on?

Now I realize this may not read as an earth-shakingly funny line, but if you knew me and my current situation you would understand why I not only found this line hilarious, but was able to identify with the core theme of this film. While not laugh out loud funny (no, I'm not using LOL), with the exception of some of the lines from Charlie (like this gem: "Each company is like a little suicide cult and their looking for the man who's already drinking their particular brand of kool aid"), it's a humorous and insightful look at finding a job in a culture that's instilled the ideology that you are your job. Ultimately, Clay's detour into the world of the Unemployable Interviewees of America is self-inflicted punishment. He has a gift, honed over the years through education, training and practice, which is evident to all who come in contact with it. In the end the best thing I can say is to quote Buddha, "Do not overrate what you have received, nor envy others. He who envies others does not achieve peace of mind." Tonight, my mind will be restless.