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      Tenure

      R 2009 1h 29m Comedy List
      Reviews 33% 500+ Ratings Audience Score A college professor (Luke Wilson) takes action when a new colleague (Gretchen Mol) threatens his chance for tenure. Read More Read Less

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      Audience Reviews

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      Audience Member Good watch, would watch again, and can recommend. I love "chaos" tropes with Luke Wilson; he always seems like a victim who is above it all, like he's indignant of the situation: always makes it funnier for me. The writing and use of the supporting cast seems almost perfectly balanced, but the mediocre, nearly non fiction account of a professor seeking tenure just isn't all that exciting. The most interesting part of the movie is the ending which turns the entire movie into an odd setup to a message. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/18/23 Full Review Audience Member This is one of those pick a plot movies. Is it about a mediocre professor looking to put some life in his life? Is it about a family dealing with an aging dad? Another professor who's on the edge of getting it together or total failure? It's as if the film was always looking for meaning. Not totally devoid of humor but you just never know quite what this movie is trying to be, like a 19 yr old looking for meaning in life but not kbowing where to look. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review harrison r I really enjoyed this very real exploration of what it's like to teach and not sell out. The solution is very plausible, too. David Koechner didn't stink it up too bad, either. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Tenure isn't a great movie, but it has heart. Witness how the bearded David Kochner (the Office's obnoxious Todd Packard) is almost unrecognizable as the (relatively) mellowed anthropology teacher genuinely convinced of the existence of bigfoot. Koechner's obsession may seem like a liability in a film set in reality, but it turns into an effective running joke. When two of Kochner's graduate students find a fresh yeti footprint but are unable to take a proper cast before it is destroyed by rainfall, he warns them that West-Coast skeptics will claim it was a hoax. He then effectively mentors them through their comedically perfect outrage and grief. Likewise, Luke Wilson as (assistant) professor Charlie Thurber quickly abandons his sinister plan to dis-credit his new competition in the Clark College literature department, and instead help her adjust and get comfortable in the classroom--even as a well-meaning Koechner sabotages her in torturously small ways. The film borders on the dramedy with scenes of Charlie's father, a former Princeton professor (with tenure!), now a widower struggling with alternating mental sharpness and senility. Bob Gunton is good even as his character seems to lack a moral center, sometimes prodding his son for his underachievement, but then moving quickly toward an inevitable but less cathartic than might have been reconciliation as he assures Luke that his teaching ability sets him apart. The movie works because the characters never go to cheap lengths to make us laugh, or end up caught up in elaborate lies that spiral out of control and require unrewarding scenes of strife as they attempt to get back on track. They work because the characters give each other the benefit of the doubt and don't spend much time shouting or acting in ways that disqualify them for friendship in the first place. So I'd say it is worth a chance. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/15/23 Full Review Audience Member This is one of the few movies I think are under-rated. Wilson did a good job. It is a feel good movie and teaches to do what we are passionate about, not what is expected from us. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member 82% "I thought when I got this age, things would be easier, but everything gets more absurd."-William Thurber (Bob Gunton) What, TENURE should be a raunch comedy? It's not about OLD SCHOOL frat parties. "The food at Yale is positivly exquiste, Beth."-Warren (Andrew Daly) Oh yeah, the business about bigfoot was awesome. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

      Cast & Crew

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      Tenure

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      Critics Reviews

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      Adam Lippe Examiner.com A tonally unfocused dead zone of a movie. It's as if director Mike Million only settled on the title of Tenure because he was afraid that "A bunch of scenes that don't go anywhere: The Movie!" wouldn't fit on a marquee. Sep 12, 2010 Full Review Read all reviews

      Movie Info

      Synopsis A college professor (Luke Wilson) takes action when a new colleague (Gretchen Mol) threatens his chance for tenure.
      Director
      Mike Million
      Screenwriter
      Mike Million
      Production Co
      120dB Films, Scion Films
      Rating
      R (Drug Content|Some Sexuality|Language)
      Genre
      Comedy
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Mar 11, 2017
      Runtime
      1h 29m
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