Entry Level

Hilarious moments, indeed, but many moviegoers will readily identify with the characters as they suffer through demoralizing and often demeaning job interviews with employers or Human Resources intermediaries, having to prove they are worthy to perform tasks well beneath their true qualifications.

When the main character's glum earnestness provokes one interviewer out of his ennui and he calls his employer with a message many of us have dreamed of uttering (although still somewhat restrained of language), another regular joins the band of aspiring applicants who assemble in the same anterooms, apparently equally unqualified for the same jobs, sent out by the Unemployment Office to the same prospective employers, and seeking validation as much as a steady paycheck.

Clay Maguire, the displaced chef whose restaurant went out of business when the city dug up the sidewalk in front of it and blocked it off for too many days, is Everyman, and D.B. Sweeney (The Darwin Awards) fits very comfortably into that skin. Especially engaging is Clay's relationship with a park bench philosopher, a very amiable and articulate homeless beggar with unexpectedly accurate analyses - and appreciation - of Clay's culinary concoctions as well as a great, running commentary on contemporary life.

This is a first feature for Writer/Director Douglas Horn, whose annual shorts films have garnered him numerous festival awards, and he shows a good sense of pacing in this longer format. Cast with seasoned actors - whose faces should seem familiar, as most have a long filmography of supporting roles on big screen and TV - performances in Entry Level are anything but, as the thesps hit a casual artistry that makes the characters as real as anyone you'd meet at the neighborhood supermarket.

Of course, the hero triumphs in the end, with a not-unexpected solution that provides a "win" for each member of the serendipitously (mis)matched medley of the so-recently unemployed. Along the way, Horn treats us to a playful ride that mixes sardonic sophistry and unfeigned philosophy in a believable banter. 

Photos: (top) Cedric Yarbrough, (2nd) D.B. Sweeney and Taylor Negron, (3rd) Kurtwood Smith, (bottom) D.B. Sweeney and Missi Pyle; courtesy of the filmmaker.

Upcoming festival screenings:
Seattle True Independent Film Festival June 2008
ReelHeART Film Festival in Toronto June 16-21, 2008
Links courtesy of Internet Movie Database.