Films Outside the Loop

Jeanne Chappé


 

Postal Worker (1998)
Have you ever wondered what makes someone 'go postal'? Possibly just working for The Post Office would do it but maybe there is a catalyst at work here? A catalyst moving from post office to post office?

This is an outrageously irreverent and hysterically wacky movie with a wonderful cast who play the script with a completely straight face! Because of the recent mass murders in post offices, the government has brought in Dr. Nicholas Brink (Richard Portnow). He has developed PEWS which stands for the "Postal Early Warning System". He lectures the postal workers about stress and the epidemic of violence in the workplace. He seems to think that inducing more stress will solve this problem. It will also solve paying pension funds and health benefits. Dr. Brink is trying to determine who is the 'detonator'. Who is the one who could blow things sky high? Trust me...there are several candidates.

Brad Garrett ("Everybody Loves Raymond") plays Oren Starks who 'somewhat' delivers your mail. What doesn't get delivered goes into the dead letter box. This depends on where your lawnmower is. Oren Starks had a bizarre upbringing. His mother apparently sexually abused him and his father made him eat his dog's liver when Oren couldn't start the lawnmower. Oren is now married and rings his own doorbell when he comes home. He also covers the top of his head and his neck with tinfoil when he is at home! His wife wants marriage counseling. Oren is fixated on Tammy Skye (Grace Cavanaugh) who is another postal worker. He brings her donuts that she refuses to eat. After you see her donut scene...you won't eat them, either! Oren also records everything on a tiny tape recorder.

Tammy is a tantalizing (just out of reach) blonde who is sexually teasing Harry Cash (Rob Roy Fitzgerald). He is another postal worker. She has just discovered that he carries a gun to work. She wants to know if he knows how to use it. And...how long it is. Tammy's father was a genetic behaviorist. Her visit to him in prison is a riot!

This movie takes shots at almost everything but mainly at the petty bureaucratic governmental BS! Constant urine tests (which are hilarious) and the bathroom breaks (two per day) that are limited to three minutes...no matter what you have to dump! No wonder people go nuts. And EVERYDAY, the endless 'white squares' have to move down the line. No matter what! Hell...I would go nuts.

This all takes place leading up to TAX DAY! April 15th. The busiest day at all post offices. All hell breaks loose during a live news broadcast from this particular post office on that date! A bit of friendly fire can't be helped. A bunch of people won't get their mail as there are a whole bunch of really DEAD letters!

Runtime: 1:25

This film is available on VHS, cable or satellite.



This column is dedicated to those films that most of the world missed!

Back to Jeanne Chappé's Films Outside the Loop

Copyright © 1999, 2007 Jeanne Chappé, all rights reserved
This material may not be republished, rebroadcast or redistributed in any manner