For some, Dane Cook is the funniest comic to walk the earth since, well, ever. For others, he's a prime example of being in the right place at the right time: breathlessly billed as the "MySpace comedian" in the mainstream media, Cook built an empire of fans (and a small pile of blink-and-you'll-miss-it credits) before most of America had ever heard of him, which during 2006, was quite a bit. Cook hit the States with a full-frontal assault in '06, dropping a HBO comedy special, a HBO miniseries and a couple feature films on 'em. Granted, some projects were better than others (did anyone make it through all the "Tourgasm" episodes?") but all of them -- including a gig hosting "Saturday Night Live" -- put this intelligent meat-head front and center, a poster boy for smug hipsters to tear down as proof of pop culture's lack of good sense.

Adding fuel to the conflagration that was (and is) his budding career, Cook starred in Employee of the Month, finding himself in the path of a blonde tornado known as Jessica Simpson; the pair were briefly linked in the tabloids and while nothing substantial came of the rumors, it underlined (again) Cook's ability to find himself in well-timed situations. I'm sure plenty of people checked out Greg Coolidge's film that would've otherwise skipped it, if only to see if Cook and Simpson got all googly-eyed at each other onscreen.

Well, kind of -- fortunately, Simpson, while billed alongside Cook and Dax Shepard, is relegated to a supporting role that doesn't ask much from her, nor require much screen time. Employee of the Month is really Cook's show, a showcase for his not terribly challenging brand of funny and one which delivers sporadic laughs. If anything, Cook has the movie stolen out from under him by Efren Ramirez and Andy Dick (there's a sentence I never thought I'd write) as two goofball employees of the not-so-thinly veiled Sam's Club/Costco rip-off Super Club. Zack Bradley (Cook), a slacker whose aim in life is to do as little as possible, finds himself suddenly motivated when Amy (Simpson), a new cashier, starts working at his store. Rumor has it that she's hot for employees of the month, a title that Vince Downey (Shepard) has won going away for the last 17 months. You can see where this is going, but the journey isn't entirely painful, as Cook and his cast of co-stars manage some moderately amusing moments.

As with most movies of this stripe, you can tell the funniest moments were a result of ad-libbing and improvisation, rather than anything written down on the page; as such, it's hard to muster up much praise for Don Calame and Chris Conroy's script, since it's more of a blueprint than a road map. Employee of the Month is a solid C-level mound of multiplex mush -- you'll laugh at it, but you just might hate yourself for doing so. Cook likely isn't going to find anything but variations on this theme for the rest of his cinematic career, so if you love this, it's a cinch that you'll dig what lies ahead for this Boston-born comic.

The Video:

Employee of the Month is presented with a fine 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer that exhibits moments of graininess (most notably during the more lowly lit scenes) but is otherwise as clean and sharp as you'd expect a film less than a year old to be. No major defects plague this image, but it stops just short of popping off the screen.

Sporting an equally adequate Dolby Digital 5.1 EX track, Employee of the Month is a film that relies heavily on the front trio of speakers, relegating the middling modern rock soundtrack to the surrounds -- dialogue is crisp and undistorted, with an optional Dolby 2.0 stereo track also included. Optional English and Spanish subtitles complete the disc.

There are plenty of supplements to sift through, leading off with a pair of commentary tracks -- one with Coolidge flying solo and one with Cook and Coolidge holding forth in tandem -- and six minutes worth of ad-libs, a two minute short titled "At Work with Lon," a three minute alternate opening (featuring cameos from Eva Longoria and John O'Hurley), with two of three MySpace-solicited contest winning videos and trailers for Crank, The Descent, Farce of the Penguins, The Invincible Iron Man and Unhitched rounding out the disc.

As with most movies of this stripe, you can tell the funniest moments were a result of ad-libbing and improvisation, rather than anything written down on the page; as such, it's hard to muster up much praise for Don Calame and Chris Conroy's script, since it's more of a blueprint than a road map. Employee of the Month is a solid C-level mound of multiplex mush -- you'll laugh at it, but you just might hate yourself for doing so. Rent it.