''Post Grad'' is a 2009 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

film directed by

Vicky Jenson Victoria "Vicky" Jenson (born March 4, 1960) is an American film director of both live-action and animated films. Retrieved April 9, 2014. She has directed projects for DreamWorks Animation, including ''Shrek'', the first film to win an Academy ...

and starring

Alexis Bledel Kimberly Alexis Bledel ( ; born September 16, 1981) is an American actress and model. She is known for her role as Rory Gilmore on the television series ''Gilmore Girls'' (2000–2007), and Emily Malek in '' The Handmaid's Tale'' (2017–2021) ...

, about a recent college graduate who moves back in with her family while she figures out what she wants to do next. Originally under the working titles of ''Ticket to Ride'' and then ''The Post-Grad Survival Guide'', the film was released on August 21, 2009.

Plot

Ryden Malby (Bledel) graduates from college in the middle of the

late-2000s recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At t ...

and is forced to move back in with her parents, because her dream job has been given to her arrogant college bestie Jessica Bard (

Catherine Reitman Catherine Marcelle Reitman (; born April 28, 1981) is a Canadian-American actress, producer, and writer. She is the creator, executive producer, writer, and star of the CBC comedy series ''Workin' Moms''. Early life Reitman was born in Los An ...

). Ryden and her best friend Adam (

Zach Gilford Zachary Michael Gilford (born January 14, 1982) is an American actor, known for his role as Matt Saracen on the NBC sports drama series '' Friday Night Lights''. In 2021, he starred in the Netflix horror limited series ''Midnight Mass''. In 2022, ...

), who has had a longtime crush on her, must find a job for Ryden before she loses hope for her future dream as an editor of a big publishing company, but her ambitions for getting a job blinded her from noticing that Adam was giving up going to New York in hopes that one day she will feel about him the same way he does for her. After a while, Adam gives up and goes to Columbia and Ryden gets her dream job, but realizes she isn't really happy and quits her job to go and live with Adam. They end up dating and having kids together

Cast

as Ryden Malby *

as Adam Davies *

Michael Keaton Michael John Douglas (born September 5, 1951), known professionally as Michael Keaton, is an American actor. He is known for his various comedic and dramatic film roles, including Jack Butler in ''Mr. Mom'' (1983), Betelgeuse in '' Beetlejuice'' ...

as Walter Malby *

Jane Lynch Jane Marie Lynch (born July 14, 1960) is an American actress, comedian and author. She is known for starring as Sue Sylvester in the musical comedy series '' Glee'' (2009–2015), which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award. Lynch also gained recog ...

as Carmella Malby *

Carol Burnett Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and writer. Her groundbreaking comedy variety show ''The Carol Burnett Show'', which originally aired on CBS was one of the first of its kind to be hosted ...

as Maureen Malby *

Bobby Coleman Robert Moorhouse Coleman III (born May 5, 1997) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as a child actor in the films ''Martian Child'' (2007), as the title character, and '' The Last Song'' (2010). Life and career Robert Coleman ...

as Hunter Malby * Rodrigo Santoro as David Santiago *

as Jessica Bard * Craig Robinson as Funeral director *

J. K. Simmons Jonathan Kimble Simmons (born January 9, 1955) is an American actor, considered one of the most prolific and well-established character actors of his generation. He has appeared in over 200 films and television roles since his debut in 1986. He i ...

as Roy Davies * Mary Anne McGarry as Barbara Snaff *

Vanessa Branch Vanessa Lynn Branch (born March 21, 1973) is an English-born American actress and model. She is best known in the United States as the Orbit Gum girl for its series of television commercials (her catchphrase is "Fabulous!"). Early life Bran ...

as Receptionist * Fred Armisen as Guacanator pitchman *

Alexandra Holden Alexandra Paige Holden (born April 30, 1977) is an American actress. Her credits include films such as '' Drop Dead Gorgeous'' (1999), ''Sugar & Spice'' (2001) and ''The Hot Chick'' (2002), and recurring roles in the television series ''Friends'' ...

as Cute funky girl *

Andy Daly Andrew J. Daly (born April 15, 1971) is an American actor, comedian and writer. He starred as Forrest MacNeil on the Comedy Central series ''Review'', and had a supporting role in the HBO comedy series ''Eastbound & Down'' as Terrence Cutler. ...

as Lloyd Hastings *

Desean Terry Desean Kevin Terry is an American actor, acting coach and theatre director. He is best known for his recurring role in the television series '' The Morning Show'' (2019–present). Filmography Film Television Video games Producer Refere ...

as Young Cop *

Angel Oquendo Angel Oquendo is an American film, television and voice-over actor. In addition to his work on film, he's appeared in a number of television series including ''Mayans MC'', ''9-1-1:Lone Star'', ''Animal Kingdom'' and ''Everybody Hates Chris''. F ...

as Police Officer *

Walter Emanuel Jones Walter Emanuel Jones (born November 30, 1970) is an American actor, martial artist and dancer, known for playing the role of Zack Taylor, the original Black Ranger on the hit television series ''Mighty Morphin Power Rangers''. He also appeared in ...

as Voice Cast *

Demetri Martin Demetri Evan Martin ( el, Δημήτριος Ευάγγελος Μάρτιν, ''Dimitrios Evangelos Martin''; born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, cartoonist and musician. He was a contributor on ''The Daily Show'' ...

(''uncredited'') as TV commercial producer

Production

Amanda Bynes Amanda Laura Bynes (born April 3, 1986) is an American actress, known for her work in television and film throughout the 1990s and 2000s. Bynes began her career as a child actress, working on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series ''All That'' ( ...

was originally set to star, but dropped and was replaced by

Reception

''Post Grad'' was panned by film critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

the film has an approval rating of 8% based on 100 reviews. The site's consensus states: "A lightweight, unambitious comedy, ''Post Grad'' features fine actors that can do little with its middling, uninspiring script." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

it has a score of 35 out of 100, based on 25 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is a market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts based on the data. Background Ed Mintz founded Ci ...

gave the film a grade B on scale of A to F. Peter Debruge of ''

Variety magazine ''Variety'' is an American media company owned by Penske Media Corporation. The company was founded by Sime Silverman in New York City in 1905 as a weekly newspaper reporting on theater and vaudeville. In 1933 it added ''Daily Variety'', based ...

'' wrote: "As fiction characters go, Ryden seems as dull as they come, making it hard to muster much sympathy for her plight".

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert (; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American film critic, film historian, journalist, screenwriter, and author. He was a film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, Ebert beca ...

gave the film three out of four stars, stating, "If you're cynical or jaded, it might not get past you. But here is the first movie in a long time that had me actually admitting I wouldn't mind seeing a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

Box office

During opening weekend, the film opened at #11, grossing $2,651,996.

Home media

The film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray on November 24, 2009.

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Post Grad 2009 films 2009 independent films 2009 romantic comedy films American independent films American romantic comedy films Films about families Films directed by Vicky Jenson Films produced by Ivan Reitman Films shot in California Films shot in Los Angeles 20th Century Fox films The Montecito Picture Company films Films scored by Christophe Beck Dune Entertainment films Films with screenplays by Kelly Fremon Craig 2000s English-language films 2000s American films