Crude 'Employee' is uninspired

EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH — * 1/2 — Dane Cook, Jessica Simpson, Dax Shepard; rated PG-13 (vulgarity, profanity, violence, brief drugs).

"Employee of the Month" invites comparisons to both the 1992 drama "Glengarry Glen Ross" and the 1999 cult hit comedy "Office Space," which is among the film's dumber ideas.

The film's single dumbest idea, of course, is trying to convince us that pop singer Jessica Simpson can be a credible, romantic comedy lead. Her woeful "acting" — if you can call it that — is probably the funniest part of this painful, poorly assembled mess.

By the way, that's not meant to imply that stand-up comedian Dane Cook's attempts at acting are any better. He simply smirks his way through his role as Zack, a slacker who works as a shelf stocker and box boy for a club membership store.

Zack is content to let others work for him and get by with as little effort as possible. That is, until he meets the store's beautiful new cashier, Amy (Simpson).

After checking out Amy's personnel file, Zack discovers that she has a thing for go-getters, so he is determined to shape up and win her over. Unfortunately, he has stiff competition in both regards from the store's reigning employee of the month, Vince (Dax Shepard).

Co-screenwriter/director Greg Coolidge was one of those who were responsible for the 2002 turkey "Sorority Boys," which explains a lot.

This follow-up project may not be quite as noxious, but it's still dumb, crude and surprisingly mean-spirited. And none of the cast members seem particularly inspired. (Except for Cook and Simpson's obnoxious co-star Andy Dick, who appears to be trying to drag the film down with his irksome shenanigans.)

"Employee of the Month" is rated PG-13 for crude humor about sexual and bodily functions (including references, suggestive language and other gags), scattered profanity (including one usage of the so-called "R-rated" curse word), supposedly humorous violence (various pratfalls and slapstick), and drug content (a glue-sniffing gag). Running time: 103 minutes.

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