Employee of the Month Reviewed

10.12.06 p.6........................................... Employee of the Month Weak, Predictable, Mindless

In an attempt to re-create an Office Space-type of movie, Employee of the Month falls short, but does have some comedic high points.

The movie’s main character Zack (Dane Cook), is a 30-something slacker who lives with his grandmother and works as a box-boy at a Costco-like superstore.

Zack has given up on responsibility and cares more about his daily poker game in his secret clubhouse at work than he does about his job.

Throughout the movie, Zack is on a quest to become the employee of the month to impress a new cashier of few words, Amy (Jessica Simpson). Rumor is that Amy has a thing for employees of the month.

However, Zack’s co-worker and nemesis, the egotistical Vince, (Dax Shepard), is an overachieving cashier who’s been employee of the month for many months running. He has the “fastest hands in the southwest” and is also vying for Amy’s attention. By christi na marti nez Daily Titan Staff Writer TheBuzz@dailytitan.com

In the beginning, there is an immediate awkwardness between Zack and Amy but, for some reason, it’s portrayed as chemistry. Apparently, they have so much in common.

The relationship between Vince and his box-boy Jorge (Napoleon Dynamite alum Efren Ramirez) is a little hard to watch.

The chemistry is weird and didn’t hold my attention.

Amy doesn’t really talk throughout the movie except when she tells Zack she has dinner plans with Vince. She is just there as a “prize to be won” for Zack and Vince.

The move is funny if you’ve ever worked in retail or had overexcited bosses who live off of customer satisfaction and inventory numbers.

Zack’s friends make the movie entertaining as well, especially Lon (Andy Dick). This optometrist specialist is almost blind himself. His one liners and physical comedy due to his eyesight trouble makes parts of the movie really amusing.

However, if it wasn’t for the

Photo by: John Johnson / Courtesy of Lions Gate Films

Russell (Harland Williams) and Lon (Andy Dick) in a Greg Coolidge comedy,“Employee of the Month.”

jokes and the characters that deliver them, Employee of the Month wouldn’t have held my attention.

The story line is weak, uninteresting and predictable. Everyone watching knows who is going to win in the big finale finish.

By Aaron Holtscla w Daily Titan Staff Writer TheBuzz@dailytitan.com

In May of 1999, Star Wars fans were granted little information about the Sith they would not fully understand until now.

“Always two there are. No more, no less. A master and an apprentice,” Master Yoda said at the end of The Phantom Menace.

Book Review Drew Karpyshyn’s “Darth Bane: Path of Destruction”

Where did the rule of two come from?

This question has been speculated over for the last seven years, and now the answer is here.

Drew Karpyshyn’s new novel “Darth Bane: Path of Destruction” takes us into the mind of the Sith Lord that created the rule of two from the chaos which was the original Sith order.

Karpyshyn unfolds the journey of Dessel, the future Sith Lord, starting from a mining colony where his drunken father called him the “bane” of his existence, to his life in the Sith army and then to his ascendance to become a master of the dark side of the Force.

As lead writer of the successful “Knights of the Old Republic” video game, Karpyshyn learned about the Sith and was respected enough to be called upon to write a book about the most famous dark force user the world doesn’t know about.

However, if you’re in for a mindless piece of entertainment that has some good moments, Employee of the Month is the movie to see.

The book explores a character that most people would despise, but tells his story in a way so the one can understand why he chose the path he did.

While perhaps unable to sympathize with Darth Bane, one can empathize with the decisions he made to cope with the life he was dealt.

The book explains that using the dark side in and of itself is not evil, but the motivations of the user dictate the good or evil of the act.

Fans of science fiction or the Star Wars universe will want to pick up this book to see the history behind the dark side of the force, and read a good story.

Karpyshyn will be answering questions from fans and signing his book tonight at Barnes and Noble in Huntington Beach at 7 p.m.