If you are a U.S. Postal Worker you can either watch this black comedy and be pi663d or just go ahead and laugh at this clichéd view of your honorable entity. Oren Starks(Brad Garrett)is a letter carrier that is truly unhinged; recording dogs that bark at him and various complaints and violations along his route each day. He hasn't had sex with his wife in months; coming home putting on his robe, wrapping his head with tinfoil and starting a lawnmower in a closet. He also stalks his sexy co-worker Tammy(Grace Cavanaugh). Tammy is also having a thing with line supervisor Harry Cash(Rob Roy Fitzgerald), who carries a pistol in the event he will have to fight off any of Tammy's other admirer's. Both men are fired and the only thing left to do is..."go postal". The Post Office ends up looking like a war zone. Customers, employees and management are gunned down without conscience. You can now be a believer that such a real life situation with deadly results can be made humorous. Being a retired Postal employee myself, I personally don't find any offense or feel slapped in the face. Black comedy is just that. Also in the cast: Paul Williams, Tracy Adams, Richard Portnow, William Long, Jr and Gary Ballard.
4 Reviews
Naturally Born Postal
Tolka4 January 2001
We as a society no longer have crusades, inquisitions, or rampaging melees of combat. So, instead, we go postal.
Postal Worker is interesting in that the entire mailing agency is portrayed as a simmering pot of twisted individuals. We get the notion that one such worker- Oren- is demented, but soon realize that the entire institution is a madhouse. Some would call the film an irresponsible carnography, but skillful subplotting and flashbacks weave a much more intricate-- and ultimately unnerving- tale of mayhem.
Over-the-top special effects are dominant-- and for good reason. The film takes us on an almost cartoon-like look at an admittedly morbidly fascinating topic. In some ways, it's like an indie version of Natural Born Killers but with an atmosphere that hits disturbingly closer to home.
Tolka's recommendation: Don't watch this one with a humanitarian/Spielberg/"Life is Beautiful" disposition. Instead, simply view it as a comical satire depicting America as a slaughtering madhouse.
Postal Worker is interesting in that the entire mailing agency is portrayed as a simmering pot of twisted individuals. We get the notion that one such worker- Oren- is demented, but soon realize that the entire institution is a madhouse. Some would call the film an irresponsible carnography, but skillful subplotting and flashbacks weave a much more intricate-- and ultimately unnerving- tale of mayhem.
Over-the-top special effects are dominant-- and for good reason. The film takes us on an almost cartoon-like look at an admittedly morbidly fascinating topic. In some ways, it's like an indie version of Natural Born Killers but with an atmosphere that hits disturbingly closer to home.
Tolka's recommendation: Don't watch this one with a humanitarian/Spielberg/"Life is Beautiful" disposition. Instead, simply view it as a comical satire depicting America as a slaughtering madhouse.
I laughed
spiritkid24 May 2004
I laughed till I cried,, I loaned the DVD to a buddy and he did too. I worked for the post office once, and there are lots of inside jokes and characters that are just the way I remember the place. Btw: Postal killings never happened in Canadian post office like in the US. The Canadian Postal union is very strong and stands up to management and workers are paid a fair wage. I understand that the US Postal Service was obligated to hire Vietnam Vets,,combine that with abusive management and guns that any idiot can buy and you have the frame work for this movie. US gun culture has always looked pretty funny to Canadians. Michael Moore's Bowling is just as funny as Postal Worker. I look forward to seeing his 9/11,, that won Cannes. Moore's cartoon Making of America is another funny one,, (try downloading it).
Ticking Time Bomb
sol121814 December 2003
******SPOILER****** Disturbing movie about the events that led up to a bloody post office massacre in a small California post office during the week of April 15, IRS day. One of the heaviest days of mail volume for the postal system.
With postal violence reaching epidemic proportions the Postal Service hires Dr. Nicholas Brink, Richard Portnow, to conduct an in depth study on what is causing this violence and to see what can be done to cure it. Being sent to the above mentioned post office to study the workers and see what he can do to first identify and then defuse potential time bombs in that post office before they explode and end up killing themselves as well as their fellow postal workers.
Dr.Brink narrows down his study to three people: Two who are very likely to go off the handle and one who is playing with fire, them, and may well be the reason that sets them off. Dr. Brink gets little help from the postmaster Calhoun Benedict, William Long Jr. who's only interested in getting the mail out at all cost at the expense of the physical as well as mental health of those postal employees that he's in charge of which is very counter-productive to what Dr. Brink is trying to do.
Dr. Brink correctly zeros in on postal clerk Tammy Syke, Grace Cavanaugh, who was a survivor of a previous post office massacre in Dearborn Michigan the year before. Tammy's boyfriend at that postal facility Patrick Henry Shipper lost his mind and then went berserk and opened fire on his fellow workers killing eight of them before he was subdued by the police. Dr. Brink feels that Tammy was in some way responsible for Shippers actions by manipulating his emotions and setting him off. Dr. Brink sees that Tammy is doing the same thing in this post office with two workers Orsen Starks, Brad Garrett, and Harry Cash, Rob Roy Fitzgerald, by manipulating and playing them off against each other for her affections.
Even more shocking is that Tammy's father is in jail for a multiple murder of some of Tammy's friends when she was a teenager some ten years ago who Tammy made to look like that they were abusing her, which drove her father to lose his mind and murder them. Tammy, Dr. Brink conclude, is a very unstable young woman. It seems that she gets some kind of thrill or kick at the sight and knowledge of people killing and injuring themselves over in manipulating them like her fellow postal workers Starks and Cash. It doesn't take long as that dreaded day April 15, where the stress and tension in that post office has reached it's absolute breaking point, rolls in all the ingredients for an explosion have been mixed together for the movies violent final ending.
Violent and disturbing movie that tries to mix comedy with tragedy but there's nothing funny about what happens in the film. If there's anything one can learn from "Postal Worker" is that when people aren't treated with understanding to what's bothering them without any thoughts concerns or consideration for their feelings, by their superiors as well as their co-workers, Bad Things Can Happen And Usually Do.
"Postal Worker" should have been made as a totally serious movie instead of a black comedy. There's nothing funny about the incredibly bloody ending as well as the beginning of the movie where Dr. Brink views a tape recording of a previous and equally bloody postal shooting at the Dearborn Michigan Post Office where Tammy used to work at which seems to have been taken by a hidden camera.
With postal violence reaching epidemic proportions the Postal Service hires Dr. Nicholas Brink, Richard Portnow, to conduct an in depth study on what is causing this violence and to see what can be done to cure it. Being sent to the above mentioned post office to study the workers and see what he can do to first identify and then defuse potential time bombs in that post office before they explode and end up killing themselves as well as their fellow postal workers.
Dr.Brink narrows down his study to three people: Two who are very likely to go off the handle and one who is playing with fire, them, and may well be the reason that sets them off. Dr. Brink gets little help from the postmaster Calhoun Benedict, William Long Jr. who's only interested in getting the mail out at all cost at the expense of the physical as well as mental health of those postal employees that he's in charge of which is very counter-productive to what Dr. Brink is trying to do.
Dr. Brink correctly zeros in on postal clerk Tammy Syke, Grace Cavanaugh, who was a survivor of a previous post office massacre in Dearborn Michigan the year before. Tammy's boyfriend at that postal facility Patrick Henry Shipper lost his mind and then went berserk and opened fire on his fellow workers killing eight of them before he was subdued by the police. Dr. Brink feels that Tammy was in some way responsible for Shippers actions by manipulating his emotions and setting him off. Dr. Brink sees that Tammy is doing the same thing in this post office with two workers Orsen Starks, Brad Garrett, and Harry Cash, Rob Roy Fitzgerald, by manipulating and playing them off against each other for her affections.
Even more shocking is that Tammy's father is in jail for a multiple murder of some of Tammy's friends when she was a teenager some ten years ago who Tammy made to look like that they were abusing her, which drove her father to lose his mind and murder them. Tammy, Dr. Brink conclude, is a very unstable young woman. It seems that she gets some kind of thrill or kick at the sight and knowledge of people killing and injuring themselves over in manipulating them like her fellow postal workers Starks and Cash. It doesn't take long as that dreaded day April 15, where the stress and tension in that post office has reached it's absolute breaking point, rolls in all the ingredients for an explosion have been mixed together for the movies violent final ending.
Violent and disturbing movie that tries to mix comedy with tragedy but there's nothing funny about what happens in the film. If there's anything one can learn from "Postal Worker" is that when people aren't treated with understanding to what's bothering them without any thoughts concerns or consideration for their feelings, by their superiors as well as their co-workers, Bad Things Can Happen And Usually Do.
"Postal Worker" should have been made as a totally serious movie instead of a black comedy. There's nothing funny about the incredibly bloody ending as well as the beginning of the movie where Dr. Brink views a tape recording of a previous and equally bloody postal shooting at the Dearborn Michigan Post Office where Tammy used to work at which seems to have been taken by a hidden camera.
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