This is one I can watch over and over, and laugh, out loud, every time. I love to share it with friends for that reason.
Why? Unlike some so-called "regional" films that only tickle funny bones locally, "Get A Job" uses an island voice to tell a universal story about work, play and love. Yes, you will laugh more if you're from Hawaii, if you've been to Hawaii, if you like mangoes, love Hawaiian music or have ever heard of Willie K, Eric Gilliom or Jake Shimabukuro. And, yes, the film delivers even without those connections.
Willie K is "William," the employment recruiter walking in two worlds. He wears a wild 'Fro with his noose of a suit and tie; he's got a meditation fountain on his desk, a guitar in the closet, a wheezing old car, and a girlfriend who wants to get married.
"Merton," played by Eric Gilliom, is the clueless surfer who goes with whatever, waiting for the big wave or cruising around the neighborhood. When a random encounter with a bicycle, a mango and a traffic jam bring the two together, William makes it his mission to help Merton get a job.
Hilarity ensues, of course. But what is more interesting, and important, is how Maui filmmaker Brian Kohne manages to bring the story to the screen with such affection and insight. By using, rather deploying, some of Hawaii's best-known entertainers like musicians Willie K, Gilliom, Henry Kapono, Amy Hanaiali'i, Augie T (as a motorcycle cop) and Jake Shimabukuro (as a Japanese tour bus guide), Kohne makes Hawaii folks feel like we're in the company of friends.
For other folks, there isn't a neighborhood in the country that doesn't have a William and a Merton - and all the others who think they know what's what and what's best for them. Their journey might play out in the snow instead of surf, or on the streets instead of sugar cane fields, but we know these characters because they are us, and we are healed by laughing at ourselves, our missteps and our funky successes in whatever form they take.
Plus it's got a killer soundtrack.
