The subtle American comedy is going the way of the dinosaur, everything these days has to be brash, obvious and forgettable five minutes after the movie is over. Why else would we pay to see the same jokes over and over again? You can only see a guy get hit in the nuts so many times before it loses its effect. I wasn't actually expecting a film so well crafted and realistic going into The Promotion. The trailer uses all the loudest jokes in the film, trying to sell it like every other comedy, but don't expect the usual brainless Sandler or Ferrell vehicle.

They try to sell it with the simplistic concept of two guys going after the same job, doing anything and everything to outdo one another, but the film really isn't about that. There are certainly those elements there, but the film digs much deeper. The Promotion is actually a love letter to the typical American worker. Not everybody has an exciting job that deals in fortune and fame, and I think that most movies don't bother to focus on these sort of everyday men. Who are heroes in their own right. The film portrays these guys as real people, there is no good or bad guy, they're simply men trying to provide for their families, dealing with the thousands of stresses of everyday life.

I've always liked Seann William Scott, he burst onto the scene as Stifler in American Pie, and got typecast as that sort of actor, but here he gets to show his range, and he has a nice quiet performance as Doug Stabler, assistant manager at a national grocery store. His battles with stock boys and parking lot security may seem mundane to an outside observer, but writer/director Steve Conrad brings us so convincingly into his world, that these are a heroes journey. When Richard Whelner, another assistant manager from the Canadian branch, shows up to work along side him, it rocks his world to the core. And it's very nice to see John C. Reilly back to playing a realistic character, I was getting sick of his Will Ferrell sidekick roles. Even Fred Armisen, who's never met a role he couldn't turn up to ten, convincingly portrays the store's head manager who stands between them. The women in these guys lives are also well drawn by Lily Taylor and Jenna Fischer. The whole film feels very natural, it's incredibly funny, while also working as a drama. Don't go into it expecting a laugh a minute, let it draw you into its world and I think this is a film that'll stick with you for a while. - Grade: A-

I hate what spoof movies have become in the last decade. All the "something" Movie's, have been terrible, little more than a thousand badly done pop-culture jokes loosely strung together. They never ever bother to stay within the genre they're supposed to be spoofing. Something like Hot Shots, which I always considered a lesser-spoof, looks like a classic compared to these films, it remains in genre, actually develops the characters and tells a bit of a story. Airplane, the king of spoof films, is as funny today as it was almost 30 years ago, and it will always be funny. While something like Epic Movie feels out of date by the time it gets to DVD. So I was happy to see the trailer for Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, it looked more like the classic spoofs, and was made by people with some talent.

Produced and written by Judd Apatow, who's been on a hit comedy roll for the past few years. Co-written and directed by Jake Kasdan, who directed episodes of Apatow's TV shows Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared, along with some good films, including 2006's The TV Set. Anyways, the fairly high pedigree for this film, got my expectations up pretty high. Walk Hard, didn't quite meet those expectations, but the film is much better than the other spoof comedies of this era. And I think it's one of those films that'll grow on me over time.

Walk Hard, keeps within the rock n' roll biography, mainly spoofing Ray and Walk the Line, but touching on other films, such as The Doors and Great Balls of Fire. The great thing about it is, they take Dewey Cox through just about every genre of of music from the past 50 years. He starts off as a country-rock musician, playing shows with Elvis, a great cameo by Jack White of the White Stripes, has a spiritual awakening with the Beatles, goes through a Bob Dylan faze, moving through disco and pop, before going back to his roots. The songs are all very well written and produced, they believably sound like the songs they're mocking, while being very funny at the same time. The songs are the highlight of the film.

The performances are also very good, they give the goofy jokes a reality. Dewey was the role John C. Reilly was born to play, his charisma sells the idea of him being a huge rock star, while also selling the jokes, without being too cheesy about it. The Office's Jenna Fischer, is really wonderful as Darlene, Dewey's muse and co-singer. Tim Meadows gets a chance to shine as a member of Dewey's band, I particularly liked the scene where he tells Dewey not to try pot. Raymond J. Barry, a character actor who's usually dead serious, made me laugh every time he was on screen as Dewey's dad, even though he only had one real line: "The wrong son died!" - Repeating the same line over and over, is a gag that usually doesn't work, but he has a gravitas that sells it.

The film is well made, with great photography, editing, direction and acting, much better than the other spoofs of this era. So when all the films like Epic Movie, Date Movie and 300 Spartans, are long forgotten, I believe that Walk Hard will live on. It's not a classic, but it is a consistently funny film, that is worth seeing. - Grade: B