Get a Job Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		1.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		1.5

Get a Job Blu-ray Movie Review

Help needed.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman June 20, 2016

Probably all (or at least most) of what you need to know about Get a Job can be summed up in the fact that the film was evidently finished in 2012 but never saw even the brief light of theatrical exhibition day it did see until 2016. Distribution problems were cited as the chief obstacle, but my hunch is someone somewhere along the way saw the completed product and had the sagacity to ask, “Do we really want to release this?” Built around the potentially interesting premise of a bunch of Millennials exiting school life to try to find gainful employment, Get a Job pretty much wastes that set up in favor of a kind of Beavis and Butt-Head-esque assortment of potty humor and other juvenile hijinks, all of which will probably make a lot of older viewers say to themselves, “Well, I wouldn’t hire these fools, either.”

The late great Pacific Northwest comedian Dave Anderson often built his routines around audience interaction, and one of the funniest bits I ever personally witnessed was when he was “interviewing” an audience member about her college studies and nascent career. This young lady stated that she was in publishing, something that in and of itself made the rest of the audience burst out laughing, but then Anderson just riffed for minutes about the ridiculousness of going into this field in the 21st century. Something somewhat similar, albeit without much actual comedy, is at play in Get a Job when it turns out recent college grad Will Davis (Miles Teller) discovers his dreams of working for a newspaper aren’t going to pan out the way he intended. Will’s gal pal Jillian (Anna Kendrick) is more concerned with their faltering relationship, but the pair is surrounded by a bunch of other 20-somethings who are trying to find their way in a recession filled world. There’s a lot of potential here, but virtually all of it is squandered in hamfisted writing and a lurching narrative arc that delivers neither satisfactory humor nor any really emotionally relevant drama.

Get a Job Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Get a Job is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This is a perfectly competent looking transfer that is nonetheless a little underwhelming and which frankly tended to remind me of a well produced television movie rather than a feature film. The palette is skewed fairly regularly toward the blue side of things, a perhaps odd choice for a putative comedy (or dramedy), but detail levels remain decently high throughout. Some of the interior shots lack much in the way of shadow detail though the more brightly lit fluorescent sequences in offices tend to pop rather nicely.

Get a Job Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Get a Job's lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix is, like the video component, workmanlike if a tad uninspiring. The film has some requisite surround activity when the gaggle of friends gets together in any number of sequences, though a lot of the film plays out in smaller one on one moments where immersion is achieved more through occasional ambient environmental effects. Everything is offered in a very clean and clear fashion, with no problems of any kind to report.

Get a Job Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Video Resume Outtakes (1080p; 2:58)


• Where It All Began: The Cast of Get a Job (1080p; 6:58)

Get a Job Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Get a Job pretty much wastes a promising premise and a really rather remarkable cast (in addition to Teller and Kendrick, everyone from Bryan Cranston to Marcia Gay Harden to several other notables). My hunch is even fans of the star duo will find this outing pretty lackluster, but if they are considering a purchase, technical merits are fine if unspectacular.