Career Opportunities (film)

Career Opportunities
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Bryan Gordon
Written by	John Hughes
Produced by	John Hughes Hunt Lowry
Starring	Frank Whaley Jennifer Connelly Dermot Mulroney Kieran Mulroney John M. Jackson Jenny O'Hara Noble Willingham William Forsythe John Candy Barry Corbin
Cinematography	Donald McAlpine
Edited by	Glenn Farr Peck Prior
Music by	Thomas Newman
Production company	Hughes Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date	March 29, 1991 (1991-03-29)
Running time	83 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Box office	$11,336,986

Career Opportunities is a 1991 American romantic comedy film starring Frank Whaley in his first lead role and co-starring Jennifer Connelly. It was written and co-produced by John Hughes and directed by Bryan Gordon.

Plot

Jim Dodge (Frank Whaley) is a self-proclaimed "people person" and dreamer who is perceived as lazy and good for nothing. After being fired from numerous low-paying jobs, Jim is given the choice by his father, Bud Dodge (John M. Jackson), to either land a job at the local Target or be put on a bus to St. Louis.

Jim is hired as night cleanup boy at Target. On his first shift at his new job, Jim is locked alone in the store by his boss, the head custodian, who leaves him there until his shift ends at 7 am. He encounters Josie McClellan (Jennifer Connelly), a stereotypical "spoiled rich girl" who he has known all his life from school, though they were worlds apart. Josie had spent the past several hours asleep in a dressing room after backing out of shoplifting some merchandise in a half-hearted attempt to run away from her abusive father, Roger Roy McClellan (Noble Willingham). Josie and Jim begin to connect with each other, realizing they are not so different, and Josie convinces Jim to run away with her. They begin to form a romantic relationship, and proceed to enjoy the freedom of having such a large store to themselves. Josie, having $52,000 in her purse, convinces Jim to run away with her to California as soon as they get out of Target in the morning. Meanwhile, Roger teams up with the town sheriff to search for his runaway daughter all night.

Things become complicated when two incompetent crooks, Nestor Pyle and Gil Kinney (brothers Dermot and Kieran Mulroney, respectively), break into Target and hold the two hostage. Eventually, Josie seduces one of the crooks and convinces him to take her with them after robbing the store. While the criminals are loading stolen merchandise into the trunk, Josie jumps into the front seat and drives away quickly, leaving the two men stranded in the parking lot. Meanwhile, in the building, Jim loads up a shotgun found in the head custodian's locker and tricks Nestor and Gil by luring them to the back of the store and holding them at gunpoint.

In the morning, the sheriff arrives at Target and stumbles upon the two crooks, having been tied up by Jim. After making a pit stop in town in a limousine in order to impress the townsfolk, Jim and Josie run away to Hollywood and the films ends with a shot of the two lounging leisurely poolside in Los Angeles.

Cast

• Frank Whaley as Jim Dodge
• Jennifer Connelly as Josie McClellan
• Dermot Mulroney as Nestor Pyle
• Kieran Mulroney as Gil Kinney
• John M. Jackson as Bud Dodge
• Jenny O'Hara as Dotty Dodge
• Noble Willingham as Roger Roy McClellan
• William Forsythe as the Store Custodian
• John Candy (uncredited) as the manager of the Target store

Reception

Career Opportunities was a modest success at the time of its release making $11,336,986 in the North American market.

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 38% based on reviews from 16 critics.

External links

• Career Opportunities at IMDb
• Career Opportunities at Rotten Tomatoes
• Career Opportunities at Box Office Mojo
• Career Opportunities at The Numbers