“Promotion” is about two nobodies trying desperately to be two somebodies. But it’s self-defeating. Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly are too personable to play characters with so such low self-confidence.

Doug (Scott) and Richard (Reilly) obviously don’t like themselves, so it’s difficult to develop any enthusiasm for either of them when they compete for the job of manager of a new grocery store. The way they play it, it’s nothing more than an ego builder, and that’s not their style so they are really miscast.

The story is set in Chicago. Doug is married to Jen (Jenna Fischer) and has a good record of employment at the grocery store. Richard, who is slightly older, is a newcomer. He migrated to Chicago with his Scottish wife, Laurie (Lili Taylor), to forget his unsavory past life and develop a new one to please his wife.

Both Doug and Richard want to be the new store’s manager, and Doug is confident that he will be chosen. He has already invested all his savings in a non-refundable deposit on a big new home.
Richard, on the other hand, is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who is very unsure of himself. He is also a former member of a motorbike gang. He learned to do virtually anything to get what he wants, and, in the film, he fakes an injury and blames Doug for it hoping it will disqualify Doug for the manager’s job.

As far as Doug is considered, he hits a black man who accosted him in the parking lot and has to apologize in front of the store’s board of directors in a self-conscious scene. 

Having Scott and Reilly in the film suggests that “Promotion” is a comedy, but it isn’t. To emphasize it, Reilly is consistently dead serious about getting the promotion, and Scott feels remorse for lying to his wife about his chances.

The plot is paper thin, even though the script tries to boost it with a side issue about racial unrest that doesn’t fit the storyline.

“Promotion” echoes some of the plot and dialogue of Will Smith’s “The Pursuit of Happyness” (it’s written and directed by Steve Conrad, screenwriter of “Pursuit of Happyness”) but doesn’t have Smith in the cast to give it momentum. The film doesn’t have a hero for the audience to root for, and satisfying movies always have someone with whom the audience can identify to make them feel part of the picture.

“Promotion” has two would-be good guys who want to be heroes by hook or by crook because they are tired of being losers. It would have worked better if the script took advantage of their comedy capabilities. Both Scott and Reilly are established comedians so the audience expects to laugh at them. That would have given the movie more appeal as well as more personality.

Studio rating: R for language, sexuality and drug use
Bob says: “A misfire” *½