The Job

Actually 3.5 stars; my nomination for Sleeper Film of the Year
While searching for Ron Perlman flicks, this reviewer stumbled on 2009's "The Job." Being a sucker for films of possibly dubious merit (especially when priced cheaply through one of Amazon's third parties), imagine the surprise of being treated to one of the bigger sleeper films in recent memory!

If you have a fondness for dead-pan black comedy on a modest budget, this one is definitely worth a look. This reviewer double-checked the film credits to make sure "The Job" wasn't some unbilled Coen Brothers masterpiece. You know: low-budget, early-years originality, perhaps even while still in film school or whatever it is aspiring film directors do. Do, that is, BEFORE succumbing to that great Hollywood abyss of mediocrity which kills originality on the altar of megabuck remakes, endless rehashes and mindless sequels because it is collectively incapable of anything else.

This reviewer cannot escape the thought that films like "Miller's Crossing, "Barton Fink" and...

Absolutely Loved It ... You Will, Too
This is a really great black comedy (just to be clear, the genre is from from the French, 1935: humour noir). Though it's paced like a thriller, it is actually more 'comedy' than 'black.' And for me, it just plain works: the only time I wasn't grinning, I was laughing. But like all black comedies, the grins are what you came for, not belly laughs.

For some reason, THE JOB reminds me a little of the late, great Paul Bartel. I think the first "indie" movie I ever saw, and certainly the first humour noir, was Bartel's 1982 cult masterpiece, "Eating Raoul." (And that was in, uhhh, 1982.) Even if THE JOB is a bit less over-the-top, I can easily imagine Bartel making this flick, or perhaps appearing in it as one of his many, many droll cameos in other indie director's films.

There's almost nothing I can say about the plot without spoiling something, so I won't. The actors are all good, especially Ron Perlman -- he's great here, a cross between Tom Waits and Sid...

sorry kind of boring
ron perlman, you are a good actor...what were you thinking? enjoy ron perlman movies, just wish he would be in a big movie.

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