Tenure (film)

Tenure is a 2009 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Mike Million and starring Luke Wilson, David Koechner and Gretchen Mol. The film was produced by Paul Schiff and released by Blowtorch Entertainment as their first original production.
After being screened at several film festivals and independent theaters, Tenure was first released on DVD exclusively at Blockbuster Video stores on February 19, 2010. A national release followed in April 2010.

Plot

Charlie Thurber is a beleaguered English professor at fictional Grey College who competes for tenure against an impressive new hire from Yale, Elaine Grasso. Jay Hadley is an anthropology professor at Grey who tries to convince Thurber to sabotage Grasso's career – while being simultaneously obsessed with trying to prove the authenticity of Bigfoot. Thurber's articles are rejected by a series of academic journals and he worries about becoming a victim of the "publish or perish" pressures of professorship. Despite competing for the same job, Thurber and Grasso begin developing a friendship after she flounders as a classroom teacher and asks him for advice.
Meanwhile, Thurber struggles with a series of personal problems: his sister, Margarette Sasha Alexander), pesters him for money to pay for the retirement home of their father, William ; a smitten female student, Beth, is pressingly flirtatious; and rather than admit he's single, Thurber hires Beth, a woman of questionable sanity, to act as his girlfriend for a dinner with Grasso and her snobbish boyfriend Warren.
Thurber's tenure review with college officials seems to heading for a disaster until the dean casts a tie-breaking vote, noting that Thurber's students gave him exemplary reviews and clearly adore him. Thurber is offered probational tenure, with the caveat that his classroom teaching will be severely reduced so that he can devote more time to publishing in respectable academic outlets.
The film concludes with Thurber inviting his ailing father to move in with him and throwing a party at his home, where he learns that Grasso has broken up with her boyfriend, hinting that she would like to pursue a relationship with Thurber. We see Thurber getting into a class to start teaching at another college, evidently having chosen to quit Grey in order to continue what he is best at, as his father keeps reminding him, which is to be the teacher of students in a classroom.

Cast

Luke Wilson as Charlie Thurber
David Koechner as Jay Hadley
Gretchen Mol as Elaine Grasso
Bob Gunton as retired professor William Thurber, father of Charlie
Sasha Alexander as Margarette, Charlie's sister
Andrew Daly as Warren, Yale professor
Michael Cudlitz as police officer Tim
Rosemarie DeWitt as Beth, Tim's girlfriend
Lily Holleman as Blaire, student
Lyman Chen as Steve Kim
Zach Selwyn as Buck, Charlie's neighbor
Keith Adams as Goth
William Bogert as Grey College Dean Leakey
Hillary Pingle as Robin, student, fond of professor Thurber
Nathan Pham as Stan, student, head of the erotic poetry society

Production

Tenure was filmed in Pennsylvania locations: Bryn Mawr College; Lower Merion High School; Rosemont College ; the Garrett Hill section of Radnor Township; and the Foulkeways Retirement Community in Gwynedd. The film was shot within twenty-five days on a budget of $5 million.

Reception

Belinda Acosta, film critic at The Austin Chronicle, gave the film a favorable review, writing, "Wilson's performance is as warm as a cardigan sweater. So, when a perky new hire threatens Charlie's already shaky position, instead of swerving into high anxiety Wilson plays it close to the chest. The even-handedness of the film is part of its charm. And while it's clear what's coming long before the end of the film, the journey to the obvious conclusion is no less satisfying." Variety's Ronnie Scheib found the film never anchoring itself firmly enough in academia to successfully parody it, "despite excellent thesping by Wilson and Gunton, and a hilarious extracurricular turn by Rosemarie DeWitt."