Employee of the Month (2006)

2006

Action / Comedy / Romance

IMDb Rating 5/10

Plot summary

For years, Zack Bradley (Dane Cook) has been working at the local "Super Club" as a box-boy. Living with his grandmother, he spends his free time with his co-workers, Lon Neilson (Andy Dick), Iqbal Raji (Brian George), and Russell Porpis-Gunders (Harland Williams). Despite his "slacker" like ways he is actually fairly kind-heart, popular and supportive. His coworker Vince Downey (Dax Shepard) earns the Employee of the Month title for the 17th time in a row. Vince is egotistical and rude towards his co-workers, mainly Jorge Mecico (Efren Ramirez), whom he berates constantly.When new cashier Amy Renfro (Jessica Simpson) joins the staff, Zack and Vince fall for her and begin to compete for her affection. Although Amy had a dinner with Vince, she is repulsed by his attempt to put moves on her. However, Vince does not realize Amy's disgust of him, thinking that they had a good kiss, and continues pursuing her. When Zack is told that Amy slept with the "Employee of the Month" at her last job, he decides to aim for the title. He picks up his act and becomes a harder worker, giving Vince competition for the title. He also goes on a date with Amy, which takes place entirely in Super Club, blindsiding Vince who is determined to give Zack a tough time.Within a few days, with Vince still racking up the daily star, Zack starts to realize that getting "Employee of the Month" is not as easy as he thought. After Iqbal gives him more encouragement, he finally finds his groove and to the horror of Vince, gets the next day's star. A war of attrition begins, as Vince tries everything, he can think of to derail Zack's string of stars, even breaking into his house to reset the clocks and cause him to be late.But Zack barely arrives on time, making Vince's attempt to sabotage the former unsuccessful. Zack agrees to take Iqbal's shift on the day of a championship slow-pitch game against rival chain Maxi-Mart. However, he leaves to play in the game and Iqbal is fired. Frustrated at Zack's new attitude, his friends tell him he is turning into Vince and feel his attempt at getting the title is a result of trying to have sex with Amy. Amy overhears the conversation and is disgusted at Zack for his true intentions. Amy reveals to Zack that her last boyfriend, who happened to be Employee of the Month, was conniving, conceited, and impolite which was why she requested a transfer because she could not stand being with him.At the end of the month, there is a tie between Zack and Vince. On the day of the tie-breaking competition, Zack decides to quit, and gets Iqbal his job back and tells him he took responsibility for what happened, making a heartfelt apology to Lon, Iqbal, and Russell. Zack tells them he plans to win the competition, not for recognition or to make an impression, but for pride. When the store manager is about to announce Zack's resignation, Zack, Lon, Iqbal, and Russell show up claiming Zack never filed the resignation papers. It is revealed Russell bribed the human resources manager with a broken Butterfinger. Zack also attempts to reconcile his relationship with Amy, even if it would not be romantic, he would settle for friendship by apologizing to her.Despite Vince's protests, the competition, for the fastest checkout, is held. The Employee of the Month Award is to be granted to the person who finishes the task in lesser time. Vince manages to beat Zack by a matter of seconds, but during the award ceremony, Semi (Marcello Thedford), the security guard, brings a surveillance video of the competition which shows Vince throwing items behind his back and onto the belt without scanning them. Vince denies the allegations of under-ringing. The store's assistant manager, who had just completed an audit of the tills used in the competition, proved the surveillance video was right about Vince giving customers free things and has been doing this for some time, costing the store thousands of dollars.When security tape footage is shown and his register receipt totals proved he cost the store money, Vince is fired and required to wear a police force tracking device in lieu of jail time. Zack ends up winning the competition having the second most points as well as the love of Amy. Six weeks following Vince's termination from Super Club, he is on probation and working at a rival store Maxi-Mart. Jorge has finally learned to assert himself and gives Vince the same poor treatment that he was once given by Vince, though is nonetheless willing to give Vince a ride to the bus stop, knowing that this would put Vince outside the range of his probation leg-tracker.