Customer Reviews

Tenure

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

Being as this received little to no ad support and the amount of customers asking for this has been nil, I had only ordered a few copies. Once I finished watching this slightly tedious piece though, I felt the main success would be from those expecting a quiet melancholy college life film, supplanted with a loser filled dark humor theme. Throw in a significant Bigfoot search subplot with Koechner leading that charge, and you have a strange little independent film.

Wilson is his normal self here playing the morose professor fighting for his tenure, with a perverse sidekick in Koechner (who never really goes into the slapstick/sight gag realm here - he is just plain weird), and one bizarre role of the Alzheimer's dad played by Bob Gunton. No memorable performances, but maybe a couple of laughs, so if you expect nothing (no outright Luke Wilson/Koechner laughorama lines here) then you will be slightly entertained. The writing was skewed towards awkward moments in every day life that almost become unbelievable, but Wilson has the power to convey that with his known looks of confusion.

The picture quality is good and the sound is solid for being a first-time feature from this group. The special features are scant and include several minutes of deleted scenes and gags. The entire gag reel is Koechner doing everything he is famous for - so in that aspect this DVD might be worthy enough for you. The only deleted scene worth watching is Koechner being chased by Bigfoot. 3.75 for the film and DVD quality and .25 for the supplements. Region 1 coded.

Very moving and funny film. An unexpected gem. The characters ring true throughout and there is never a false note. The film manages a great balance between sarcasm and sincerity. I completely loved it!

Had a friend recommend Tenure to me and I loved it...! Good show! I'm not a man of many words for shows, but love a good one when I see one... Recommend it to anyone.....

I bought this movie because I am currently dealing with the issue of tenure on my job. I thought it might be interesting to see how Hollywood has dealt with this phenomenon. This particular movie focuses on the stressful aspect of being considered for tenure. It follows two friends at a small Pennsylvania college who are up for tenure and some of the colleagues they come into contact with, including a new rival for a tenured position. The movie certain gets some things right in a general sense such as the publish-or-perish aspect of tenure in some places and the way some teachers can get caught up in an endless cycle of moving from school to school as non-tenured instructors. For the most part, the academic characters fall within the realm of possible real-world types with one big exception. The main character's buddy is some kind of anthropologist who specializes in Bigfoot. This comes across as being a bit unrealistic and while it adds some good comedy relief at points, it detracts from the realism of the movie. Luke Wilson does a pretty good job as the main character. His character is somewhat pessimistic and depressed throughout the movie which is certainly the case with some teachers who are under pressure to nail down a long-term job. His rival is played by Grechen Moll who also does a good job as the supposed superstar who isn't as confident or competent in the classroom as her fame would suggest.

Throughout the movie we see the ups and downs of the main character's life as both a teacher and a candidate for tenure in the year he is up for tenure. At no point is tenure a sure bet for him and some of his attempts to do things that will help him backfire. There is also a secondary plot revolving around the main character's father who is himself a retired professor who is beginning to suffer the early effects of Alzheimer's. All of the plot lines resolves themselves in a somewhat unexpected but reasonable manner. Overall, this movie has some lighter moments but is not really a comedy. It also has some romantic moments but it is not really a love story. It is best viewed as a drama about one possible type of experience someone who goes into education could have. The movie doesn't really seem to be attempting to comment terribly heavily on the tenure system per se. The thrust of the film seems to be the exploration of a young professor who is trying to find his niche in academia.

Given Luke Wilson's starring role, I'm surprised I hadn't heard of this movie before. It's actually pretty funny. Maybe it's just because I'm in academia, but I thought some of the jokes were quite clever. The characters were also surprisingly real and relatively little cursing and nudity for a "frat pack" comedy. Overall, it's somewhat more mature, but no less funny. Definitely recommended for anybody involved in education - especially professors trying to get tenure.

The tenure process in academia is a process that many people do not understand. Lifetime employment? How quaint! How ridiculous! How wasteful!

Here's the deal (or one version of it). Tenure gives faculty the freedom to avoid politics in the search for scholarship. You can see why this might be more essential in some areas (political science, sociology, art) than others (engineering, biology, chemistry). But the standards for getting tenure, although they vary from institution to institution, usually make receiving tenure difficult. Many jobs have a probationary period that make it easy to get rid of an employee if the fit is not working out. Then, the now ex-employee looks for another job. These probationary periods commonly last for 3-6 months.

Now try this system. You are on probation for 6 YEARS. And if you fail to pass this threshold, you almost certainly will have to downgrade your professional plans, plans that have probably taken you to one or more graduate degrees plus the 6 year investment. So when "Dr. Sasquatch" (played by David Koechner) tells his best friend, a professor (played by Luke Wilson) in English Literature concerned about getting tenure at Grey College, "It's not the end of the world. It's only tenure," those in the know KNOW it is the end of THAT world.

Charlie Thurber (Wilson) is an excellent teacher, but he can't seem to get any publisher interested in his scholarship. Jay Hadley (Koechner), already denied tenure, makes it his mission to help Thurber, even when it involves trashing the reputation of the new English professor (Elaine Grasso, played by Gretchen Mol), who is publishing up a storm.

Bigfoot makes cameos throughout.

Tenure is a gently uplifting comedy, with a number of subplots (erotic poetry club, herbal enhancement, and hired girlfriends) that will also make you smile and chorkle.

Professor Charlie Thurber (Luke Wilson) loves teaching, and his students love him back, some a little more than they probably should. But he hates academia's competitive paper chase. After being passed over for tenure once too often, he decides to knuckle down and join the game at bucolic Grey College. But a screw-loose colleague, a sexy competitor, and family pressures may be more than a loyal English professor can bear.

This straight-to-DVD gem will probably never get the recognition it deserves. PR people can't compress its concept into a plug line. Its gentle, optimistic tone defies hip cinematic cynicism. And its low-key humor, based on characters and language rather than broad physical comedy, will never rake in the big bucks. Yet I can't help but love this film, possibly because I see myself and my colleagues here on screen.

Wilson plays Thurber so he has our sympathy, but doesn't need our pity. He excels at what he does, and students seek his help because he's a good teacher. But being good isn't good enough anymore. Anybody who's ever postponed grading or given students just enough to get by while hammering on our own scholarship to show the department we deserve to exist, will recognize Thurber as one of our own.

And this movie doesn't jump out waving jazz hands to convince us we ought to laugh. Despite a few exaggerated moments, it mainly displays an understated quality that shows its audience a level of respect we've grown unaccustomed to recently. If more movies like this came out of the mainstream Hollywood dream factories, Sunset Strip might have fewer zillionaires, but the movies would still be something to look forward to.