Tenure (2009)

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

I am not going to bash this movie as many have done... I saw the movie, and was think I set the bar too high. Without giving away too much of the movie, I found that the acting was good, the story was different from a "bottled, formulaic, Animal House-ish" rewrite college comedy.It was smart, clever, and told a good tale, there was only a small amount of unanswered questions I had in my mind when it ended... I stared at the screen and said... "OK...it wasn't awful, it was .... well OK"The bottom line is, I am not going to say it was a horrible movie, because it was not... I found that I was entertained by the movie, and they did not try to market it as a blockbuster.. A decent film, and not too far removed from what it was about.. trying to get tenure at a College.

Seriously, One of the best comedy's i have seen in a while, Some great one-liners in there, a simply perfect cast, great storyline, just enough random humor, Loved it.Its rare for me to rate a movie this highly but this movie isn't one of those movies with funny moments and boring lulls, its one of those movies that just keeps you smiling and giggling the whole time and its the best of its kind that i have seen.Its been a long time since i have been so pleasantly surprised by a movie like i was this one, I definitely recommend this movie to any and all people who like to laugh and smile, Which I'm pretty sure are most people ;-).

The movie was enjoyable. It had a good storyline, and I could relate to the characters for the most part. The problem that I had with this movie is that Charlie Thurber (played by Luke Wilson) is such a straight man that it seems unrealistic, and kind of annoying. The only time that he does anything immoral is when he is coaxed by his friend Jay Hadley (played by David Koechner). I think if the main character had done some more immoral things on his own, he would have seemed more human and real. I feel like several of the characters as they are seem to innocent, and unrealistic. There was a perfect opportunity for this with the female student that had a huge crush on him, Robin (played by Hilary Pingle). So below are my thoughts on what they could have done with this story. If Charlie, the main character, with everything going on in his life, had eventually given into Robins desire for him it would have made his character seem more realistic. Personally I think that I would have. It also would have added a bit of sex that I think the movie would have benefited from. I felt a lot of sexual tension in the movie, probably to much. I think they could have used her character to expand on the teacher characters. She could have given her view of some of the various faculty from a students point of view, showing some of the flaws and short comings of the other professors. Like one being a bit perverted, and another drinking during work hours. He could have then taken her to dinner instead of the PBS lady, and Elaine Grasso (played by Gretchen Mol) could have showed some jealousy for the young attractive student, which I think would make her character seem more real and human as well. I just think this would have added some much needed depth to the movie

Maybe it's the Wilson factor or maybe it's the music that made me think of Wes Anderson right away. It wants to be Rushmore but it's not as quirky, bitterly funny and brilliant. The characters are trying to be odd but they are more cliché than anything else: a bigfoot hunting professor on xtc is almost childish and would fit in a highschool flick. I am fairly surprised this movie made it to any film festival at all. There was hardly anything entertaining about it and in the end i found it hard to stay engaged. Too bad, the storyline has potential for a whoppin' comedy. I wonder what Anderson would have made out of this one.