Career Opportunities (1991)
-
38% of critics liked it
(16 reviews) -
37% of users liked it
(6,846 ratings)
John Hughes strip-mines familiar terrain -- in this case his own past successes -- in this comedy that Hughes produced and scripted, directed by Bryan Gordon. Frank Whaley stars as Jim Dodge, a 21-year-old con-man who goes from job to job but likes to put on a facade of success. As Career… More John Hughes strip-mines familiar terrain -- in this case his own past successes -- in this comedy that Hughes produced and scripted, directed by Bryan Gordon. Frank Whaley stars as Jim Dodge, a 21-year-old con-man who goes from job to job but likes to put on a facade of success. As Career Opportunities begins, he has just been fired from another job and has been hired by the local Target store manager (played by an un-credited John Candy) as the night cleanup boy. After the manager locks Jim in the store overnight, he goes on a binge -- playing with the skates, eating candy, watching television, and blasting the stereos. But then Jim discovers that he is not the only person in the store. Also there is rich girl Josie McClellan (Jennifer Connelly) who is spending the night in the store to get her father worried about her. Although Jim knew Josie in high school, when Josie wouldn't even give him the time of day, here they click like two castanets and they romp around the store aisles to a pounding rock score. But just at the moment when Jim and Josie plan to run away together with the $52,000 Josie holds in her purse, two low-rent comic thieves -- Nestor Pyle (Dermot Mulroney) and Gil Kinney (Kieran Mulroney) -- break into the store and Jim and Josie decide to stick it out, saving the store from the bumbling crooks. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
- Directed By
- Bryan Gordon
- Genres
- Comedy
PG-13,
- In Theaters
- Mar 29, 1991 Wide
- On DVD
- Oct 27, 1998
- Studio
- MCA Universal Home Video
Critic Reviews
-
Variety Staff, Variety
[The film] has plenty of absorbing characters, smart, snappy dialog and delightful stretches of comic foolery.
-
Janet Maslin, New York Times
Scenes like the one in which Jimmy's father eats fried chicken dipped in peanut butter should appeal to kids of all ages.
-
Hal Hinson, Washington Post
Jennifer Connelly is very easy to look at. Career Opportunities isn't.
-
Mark Pfeiffer, Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema
Career Opportunities plays like a hodgepodge of Hughes' greatest hits.
-
Tim Brayton, Antagony & Ecstasy
If we didn't know from other, better Hughes movies what the themes and emotional registers were supposed to be, it's hard to say that this would be able to supply them itself.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
Currently unavailable on Flixster
Also available on
Other Retailers
Not Available
Not Available
Not Available
Subscription Services
Not Available
Not Available
Cast
-
Frank Whaley
as Jim Dodge
-
Jennifer Connelly
as Josie McClellan
-
Dermot Mulroney
as Nestor Pyle
-
John M. Jackson
as Bud Dodge
-
Kieran Mulroney
as Gil Kinney
-
Barry Corbin
as Officer Don
-
John Candy
as C.D. Marsh (uncredited)
-
Jenny O'Hara
as Dotty Dodge
-
Noble Willingham
as Roger Roy McClellan
-
Dan Albright
as Dave Hockner
- Royce D. Applegate
-
Reid Binion
as Cal Dodge
-
Marc Clement
as Otis
-
Nada Despotovich
as Penny Dodge
-
Wilbur Fitzgerald
as Bob Bosenbeck
-
William Forsythe
as Custodian
- Leigh French
-
Denise Galik
as Lorraine
-
Heidi Meyer Gilbert
as Girl in Car
-
Troy M. Gilbert
as Boy in Car
-
Andy Greenway
as Boy #2
- Joanna Lipari
- Coleby Lombardo
- David McCharen
-
Danny Nelson
as Gas Station Owner
-
Paige Pollack
as Voiceover
- Gary Schwartz
- Jonathan Stark
-
Lou Walker
as Farmer in Cafe
-
Benji Wilhoite
as Stock Boy
-
Andrew Winton
as Boy #1
- David Arnott
-
RonReaco Lee
as Boy #3
- Pam Dixon Mickelson
