Management (Blu-Ray)

Management chronicles the chance meeting of Mike Cranshaw (Zahn) and Sue Claussen (Aniston) when she checks into the roadside motel owned by Mike's parents in Arizona. A bottle of wine 'compliments of management' jump-starts the cross-country journey and unique courtship between two different kinds of people who are both ultimately looking for the same thing - a sense of happiness. Mike sees something special in button-downed Sue that inspires him to take a chance and hit the road to go after her. But once he reaches Maryland, he finds that Sue has no place for an aimless dreamer in her carefully ordered life. Obsessed with making a difference in the world, Sue falls back in with her punk-turned-Yoghurt mogul ex-boyfriend Jango (Harrelson), who promises her a chance to head his charity operations. But having finally found something worth fighting for, Mike puts his hopes against her practicality, and the two embark on a twisted, bumpy, ultimately freeing journey to discover that their place in the world just might be together.

Jennifer Aniston may get top billing in this romantic comedy, but MANAGEMENT belongs to Steve Zahn. The often goofy, always likable actor plays Mike Cranshaw, a man with little ambition ...but lots of heart who works at his parents' motel in small-town Arizona. When paint-saleswoman Sue Claussen (Aniston) stops at the inn, Mike immediately plots an awkward plan to seduce her. Things go better than either of them would have guessed, but Sue still leaves for her home in Maryland. Mike impulsively follows her east, beginning an uncomfortable but heartfelt courtship that takes the road less traveled. Sue's move from Maryland to Washington does little to deter Mike, but the reappearance of her ex-boyfriend, ex-punk Jango (Woody Harrelson), could throw him off course. MANAGEMENT balances its star power (A-list actress Aniston) with its indie roots (theatrical distributor Samuel Goldwyn Films) to make a movie that doesnt fit the rubric of either genre. It's too quirky for a studio film, but it's sweet enough that it shouldn't scare away any fans of Aniston's work in FRIENDS and HE'S JUST NOT THAT INTO YOU. She's more in the territory of THE GOOD GIRL and FRIENDS WITH MONEY here, and Sue is a complicated part that Aniston pulls off. In his other roles, Zahn often labors in the background and steals scenes from actors with higher billing, but MANAGEMENT is indisputably a leading role for the actor. His Mike commits acts bordering on criminal (or at least crazy) in his cross-country pursuit of Sue, but thanks to Zahn's performance, it's hard not to feel devoted to his character and to understand Sue's (reluctant) attraction. Fans of the cringe-worthy humor of comedies like THE OFFICE will enjoy squirming through this unlikely romance. [D-Man2010]

Jennifer Aniston (Marley & Me, Office Space) and Steve Zahn (Sunshine Cleaning, Saving Silverman) star in this "rare romantic comedy" (Los Angeles Times) that's bursting with originality, humor and sweetness. It's lust at first sight for laid-back motel night manager Mike (Zahn) when Sue (Aniston), an uptight sales rep, checks in. Convinced that Sue is his dream girl, Mike shakes up his slacker life in an outrageous pursuit across the country. But can he steal her away from her hot-tempered boyfriend (Woody Harrelson, No Country for Old Men)? Both Mike and Sue must go on their own twisted journeys to find out if what they really need is each other. [D-Man2010]