Product Details

• Actors: Randy Russell, Matt Collier, Ed English, Gary Ganakas, Dan Layne
• Directors: Chris Smith
• Format: Color, NTSC, VHS
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Bluemark Productions
• Run Time: 90 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001CSNX76
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #346,973 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Randy looks for work in this dryly satirical pseudo-documentary look at mindless minimum wage jobs. Randy is as bland and soulless as the Midwestern town he lives in. As he tries one job after another, no insight into his background, thoughts or feelings is offered. There is only the numbing repetitiveness of the jobs. First he gets a job monitoring a machine at a plastics factory. He does nothing all day but watch it work. Unable to take the boredom, he next begins working as a clean-up person at a fast-food restaurant. That doesn't work and so he continues on with other jobs including taking inventory, cleaning motels, and becoming a telephone solicitor. - Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Hilarious movie, August 7, 2008

By 

Aaron Wrigley "[e-mail]" (St. Louis) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Job (VHS Tape)

I don't particualry like "bad" movies, but If they look remotely interesting, I have to watch it. I think I rented American Job when It first came out, and it was the funniest thing ever. It's just a documentary-style account of this quiet little dude who gets all these different jobs and in short order decides that it's not for him and just leaves.....You're essentially watching a guy do what you've always wanted to do. The scene where they show him pulling his car into his job at a fast food joint at dusk pretty much sums up the flick. You see the headlights go off...several seconds pass....then you see them come back on again, and the car pulls out and drives away. Fans of American Movie will love this....If it ever becomes available on DVD, I'm there. Sorry, VHS.

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Greatest Indie Films Ever, October 23, 2011

By 

Thomas M. Sipos (Santa Monica, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Job (VHS Tape)

I saw AMERICAN JOB in the 1990s on the Independent Film Channel and taped it on VHS. I've seen it several times since. I wish it were released on DVD.

It looked like a documentary. I wasn't sure. Research revealed that the main character, Randy, had actually worked at the minimum-wage jobs portrayed, and filmmaker Chris Smith asked the employers to allow Randy to recreate scenes of how he was hired, worked there, and eventually fired (or quit).

AMERICAN JOB follows Randy from one minimum-wage job to the next. It's like Reality TV -- but it's NOT.

The genius of AMERICAN JOB is that, unlike today's Reality TV, this film doesn't try to "spice up" the reality with phony conflicts. The scenes in AMERICAN JOB are mundane -- excruciatingly boring. Even so, I was mesmerized. The film conveys some powerful social commentary -- but by showing, not by telling or preaching.

AMERICAN JOB peeks into the lives of minimum wage workers. Randy works at a plastics factory, fast food restaurant, warehouse, cleaning motel rooms, and telemarketing. It's a portrait of working class Americans, portrayed not by actors, but by real working class Americans on actual job sites.

A brilliant documentary, even if the scenes are recreated.