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Product Description
A college professor competes for tenure with a hot-shot female colleague.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:DVD
In a fictitious small college in the United States, a mediocre professor of English literature (played by Luke Wilson) see his job threatened because tenure is soon up, and the university has decided to bring in to compete for his job a supposedly brilliant as well as beautiful young professor from Yale (the lovely Gretchen Mol). This is supposed to be an affectionate satire of the academic world in the US, but I found little affection in what I see. As for the supposed humor, I don't recall laughing once at this movie. Seeing these people with their ridiculous trappings, the vain and pompous administrators, it is clear these professors and administrators add very little value to the rest of the society, yet they live not badly and with a certain status. While the movie obviously exaggerates, from what I read is a not altogether incorrect depiction of life in the rarefied US academic world. Are academics smart people? It doesn't seem so from this movie. Here they look pretty pathetic. It's funny how the Gretchen Mol character is repeatedly described as super smart, when she seems to be the typical dumb blonde (she is the most likable character in the movie, though). The Luke Wilson character, though not entirely unlikable, is a man in his late thirties that is still single and unattached, without any real prospect of improving his life, if anything, it is clear that his life would go downhill from here. The character of the anthropologist friend is downright pathetic (and the big foot thing? what was about that?). The dean and the old lady playing the academic director were also repellent characters. Clearly most of these people could not get a job outside of academia. Seeing this movie, I understand why more and more people believe that tenure should be abolished.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
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20 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Pleasant, Low-Keyed Joy
1 July 2010
Format:DVD
I happened to see a trailer for TENURE on another DVD I had rented. I had never heard of TENURE before, but the trailer got my attention. I've never been a college professor, but I have been a high school teacher and though the rigmarole to get tenure at a high school is different than that at college (you don't have to worry about getting published, for instance) there are many similarities.
Luke Wilson stars as Charlie Thurber, an assistant professor of English at Grey College. Charlie has been teaching there for three years and is up for tenure at the end of the school year. He thinks his chances are good. However, when his best friend, Dr. Jay Hadley (David Koechner) is denied tenure and sees his dream job go to an upstart Asian-American, Charlie begins to doubt. Still, even Dr. Hadley thinks Charlie is a shoe-in until the college hires a female English professor named Elaine Grasso (Gretchen Mol) who taught at Yale. Suddenly Charlie realizes his job is in jeopardy and he's in the fight for his life. In between his duties as a professor and faculty advisor, Charlie spends his time with Dr. Hadley hunting Bigfoot and hanging out with his Dad who has been prematurely placed into a retirement home.
Wilson is his usual film self and, like the character he plays who is born to teach, he does what he does best. Koechner is usually a joy to watch and that's no different in TENURE. However, Koechner's role is bit more low key than the roles he usually appears in. Gretchen Mol is beautiful as ever and does a nice job as the female foil to Charlie. Bob Gunton portrays Charlie's Dad and the viewer can't help feeling sorry for the man in complete control of his mental faculties who finds himself in a place he really doesn't belong.
I really enjoyed TENURE. It's a small quiet comedy seeped in realism without any hyperbole. Though it's not the typical film Wilson and Koechner appear in, TENURE is a pleasant, little joy of a film.
The extras on the DVD are minuscule: a few deleted scenes and a reel of outtakes.
Luke Wilson stars as Charlie Thurber, an assistant professor of English at Grey College. Charlie has been teaching there for three years and is up for tenure at the end of the school year. He thinks his chances are good. However, when his best friend, Dr. Jay Hadley (David Koechner) is denied tenure and sees his dream job go to an upstart Asian-American, Charlie begins to doubt. Still, even Dr. Hadley thinks Charlie is a shoe-in until the college hires a female English professor named Elaine Grasso (Gretchen Mol) who taught at Yale. Suddenly Charlie realizes his job is in jeopardy and he's in the fight for his life. In between his duties as a professor and faculty advisor, Charlie spends his time with Dr. Hadley hunting Bigfoot and hanging out with his Dad who has been prematurely placed into a retirement home.
Wilson is his usual film self and, like the character he plays who is born to teach, he does what he does best. Koechner is usually a joy to watch and that's no different in TENURE. However, Koechner's role is bit more low key than the roles he usually appears in. Gretchen Mol is beautiful as ever and does a nice job as the female foil to Charlie. Bob Gunton portrays Charlie's Dad and the viewer can't help feeling sorry for the man in complete control of his mental faculties who finds himself in a place he really doesn't belong.
I really enjoyed TENURE. It's a small quiet comedy seeped in realism without any hyperbole. Though it's not the typical film Wilson and Koechner appear in, TENURE is a pleasant, little joy of a film.
The extras on the DVD are minuscule: a few deleted scenes and a reel of outtakes.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
A slice of life that I can relate to.
18 Jun 2010
Format:DVD
As a college professor who just recently got tenure, I can certainly relate to this film. For a comedy, it manages to deliver steady amusement rather than any real laughs. The film does an excellent job capturing the pressure (and self-introspection) of the tenure process, as well as, the absurdity of faculty politics. Luke Wilson is playing the same basic character we've seen before, but (even so) was a good choice for the lead. All in all, a good way to pass the time--especially for academics who don't take themselves too seriously.
12 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Quirky Comedy
6 Mar 2010
Format:DVD
This is a great film. I didn't know what kind of comedy it was going to be, but it was dry, quirky and much funnier than it would have been if it was over-the-top straight comedy. David Koechner is hilarious! Definitely a must see.
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