by Jeremy Van Doren

If academia were to be represented by a film genre, it would be the indie comedy. Every year, dozens of entrants vie for a place among the respected few. They strive to cover new territory in a wide variety of ways; from boisterous absurdism, to meticulous quirkiness, to wit as dark as it is razor sharp. For this reason, Tenure is as refreshing as it is normal. Writer-director Mike Million’s film loosely lays out multiple strands of a story that its lead character Charlie (Luke Wilson) barely tugs on as he proceeds through his life. The success of Tenure is its ability to constantly downplay the absurdist hues that color its comedy.

Tenure is set in the small liberal arts college of Gray University, where Charlie Thurber is an assistant professor on the verge of getting, or not getting, tenure. His best friend, Jay Hadley (David Koechner) is a bigfoot obsessed anthropology professor who’s a few sources short of a bibliography. His main opponent for an English professor position is attractive Elaine Grasso (Gretchen Mol). In addition to the break room drama taking place at his school, Charlie simultaneously deals with family drama, an ever-so-smoldering attraction to his rival, and misguided attempts at help by his best friend. With all of the wacky shenanigans poised to consume Charlie’s life, he has reason to be flipping his lid. But he isn’t.

Luke Wilson, who optioned and produced the film, is the perfect man to walk the fine line laid out in Millions’ story. He portrays Charlie in such an admirably even-keel manner, it creates a slow burning humor that eventually ignites into a small, very contained brush fire of funny. With a different cast and director behind it, Tenure could spiral out of control into MTV Film fashion utter madness. Charlie, the entire cast, and the film itself, maintain a perfectly believable pitch despite the many exaggerated stakes present in the plot.

Tenure is less a comedy about overcoming adversity as it is accepting it as a fact of life. It suggests that personal hardship is not something that can beat you down, but something that is there anyway, so while you’re at it, try to not only learn from it, but laugh at it. It’s a subtly delivered and striking stance for a comedy that could have easily veered into satire or farce. Tenure is uplifting in a way that does not feel at all contrived, and its humor stems from the sense that life is back to back, or even simultaneous, absurdity and mundanity. Millions’ unyielding focus on subtlety creates humor that is balanced, believable and intelligent; and a perfect array of natural acting and honest delivery perfectly complement his vision.