Gunplay

April 17, 2012 6:09 AM

Blow Out Sale - An imaginative short film featuring Danny Pudi, which looks at the dangerous and competitive world of retail furniture sales.

Similar finger-gun action previously seen on Spaced [part 1, part 2] and Cougar Town.

posted by quin (10 comments total)

Brings sales competition to a whole new level-thanks for the grins.
posted by ~Sushma~ at 6:24 AM on April 17, 2012

Yes.

Nice use of the cougartown tag.
posted by leotrotsky at 6:27 AM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Retail furniture showrooms are almost worse than car dealerships for high-pressure sales. They pounce on you as soon as you open the door, and then follow you around the store like sharks hunting prey. That's why I try to buy all my furniture at consignment, antique, or auction sales.
posted by crunchland at 6:31 AM on April 17, 2012

Somewhat related, but whenever I hear someone who's never seen Cougar Town disparage it based on the name alone, I like to point out it's the only show that Community "partners" with on occasion instead of (just) mocking. Not that if you like one you'll automatically like the other--in a lot of ways, especially tone, they're polar opposites--but they're both highly metafictional shows about tight-knit groups that live in their own little bubbles, and what happens because of that. They're also both unlikely to be renewed for next season, but that's not the fault of the shows themselves.
posted by zombieflanders at 6:32 AM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

These guys need some target practice lessons.
My god, my 10 year old niece has better aim.
posted by Flood at 6:41 AM on April 17, 2012

Given the lack of dialogue in the first minute or so, I was almost looking forward to them doing a short film entirely in cheesy gestures.
posted by Madamina at 7:19 AM on April 17, 2012

So the furniture store is staffed by Autons? I hope Inspector Spacetime finds out so he can stop the invasion.
posted by Lokheed at 9:13 AM on April 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

I was... hmm. Had this been a student film full of people I've never heard of, with zero funding, I think I'd have been pleasantly surprised. But given that it's dropping Toyota as a sponsor from the get-go, and has an (arguable) TV star in it, I found it kind of fell apart for me.

I liked the first 90 seconds or so, but from the instant we return to the showroom (where the two salespeople are pew-pewing from either side of the couch) the continuity of the narrative is disjointed; the story seems to contradict its own logic for a snappy ending rather than a conclusion that makes sense within the context of the video itself.

What makes this weird is that I feel like I didn't like it for exactly the same reasons Abed wouldn't.
posted by Shepherd at 9:13 AM on April 17, 2012 [3 favorites]

Cougar Town is real?
posted by orme at 1:15 PM on April 17, 2012

Some people are unfamiliar with 'employes' who work on commission; no sales = no pay. There is also the 'on point' system of sharing prospects. This system was not used in the video. *understatement*
posted by Cranberry at 2:25 PM on April 17, 2012