WATCH THE TRAILER HERE
First, the Recap:
Ever feel unappreciated? You come to work, even take one for the team sometimes by staying over or coming in on days off perhaps, yet still don’t get any tangible reward or recognition? But be encouraged, because you’re absolutely “essential”. It has become the standard M.O. for IT admins Dan (Jay Saunders) and Randy (Doug Henderson), though Dan suddenly finds himself in danger of unemployment when rumors about his contract not being renewed begin to surface, while Randy enjoys the relative safety of being an FTE. During a massive outage at the company that warrants the pair’s skills, Dan becomes more and more obsessed with ensuring his job is secure.
Quibbling with everyone from his project manager/possible girlfriend Vera (Rebecca Wahls) and the higher up boss Kathy (Devon Brookshire), to snobbish execs Jake (Dylan Hares) and Rob (Trevor Desaussure), events continue to spiral out of control with the additional craziness via his interactions with Randy, whose penchant for being the most un-PC person he can lands both of them in worlds of potential disaster. Hence, what’s left to do but simply be the most annoying they can to users seeking their help, chattering on about office politics, and people watching at the local coffee shop? But, as the contract expiration looms ever closer, Dan truly begins to wonder whether he will actually be considered genuinely valuable, or totally obsolete.
Next, my Mind:
Think of it as the office-based version of “Clerks” when it comes to director/co-producer/co-editor Aaron Goodmiller’s feature length effort, in the freakishly accurate overall picture the film portrays of the thankless, yet truly integral, position that is being an admin paired with the consistently irreverent, obscene, off-color comedy throughout. Very much addressing many of the mundane and/or pointless drudgeries experienced like conference calls, latencies, insanely inept/whiny users, and clouds, to people’s fake attitudes, ill-advised spying, and any other non-PC topic/action possible, I could appreciate certain elements and intent of the greater narrative, but the bathroom humor was simply overwhelming and too distracting for my own personal preferences or enjoyment.
Saunders is quite entertaining here, though, as the contract-restricted drone Dan, whose skillsets are actually quite impressive if anyone would sincerely notice in a way that made any impact or improvement on his growing predicament. Rather, despite his efforts, Dan becomes more and more immersed in causing chaos while still attempting to make himself indispensable, and Saunders is effective in enacting this dynamic. Likewise, Henderson’s Randy is a court case waiting to happen when it comes to his complete disregard for anything moral, rather choosing to dive into any and all opportunity to be as offensive as possible to anyone who crosses him, even as he often takes what he’s saying with total seriousness, unwilling to admit some habits are best left hidden. Henderson’s delivery for comedic purposes is spot on, and serves this character to a “T”.
Wahls is wonderful as Vera, a young woman striving to make an impact on her office and be just as valuable as anyone, yet also finds herself marking her territory with Dan, despite what often appears to be a love/hate relationship the two have. It’s an entertaining performance. Brookshire’s Kathy is a walking, talking sexual harassment suit waiting to occur, and just the blatantly manipulative demeanor she carries is so over-the-top that it’s hilarious and quite apropos to the proceedings. Hares’ and Desaussure’s pompous execs and prank-pullers are well played, too, giving the whole notion of how certain workers are who feel they’re above the “help” a shot in the comedic arm. This truly is “The Office” meets “Clerks” when it boils down to it, for good or ill.
Additional supporting turns from Joe Hansard, Dj Amreen, Dallas White, and others fill in some additional humorous moments. As indicated above, while “Admins” is simply not my style of humor at all, there’s no denying in this modern film age it has an audience out there for it, has already found it, and will continue to do so. It still reflects the independent film world’s ability to take what has been done before and make every effort to create their own concept out of it while also trying to keep it fresh, new, and entertaining.
As always, this is all for your consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
