Grilled is a 2006 American dark comedy film directed by Jason Ensler and starring Ray Romano and Kevin James. It was released direct-to-video in the United States on July 11, 2006. Maurice (Romano) and Dave (James) are inept door-to-door meat salesmen who need to make a sale to keep their jobs. After several unsuccessful attempts, they meet a potential client who leads the guys into a complicated series of events culminating with an encounter with a Mafia princess and a deadly mobster.

Plot

Maurice and Dave try, but fail to sell steaks to people through a mail service. Tired of their incompetence, their boss gives them cards with the names and addresses of their highest buyers, warning that this is their last chance. Dave loses all but one of the cards. It leads to a woman named Loridonna.

Loridonna is on the phone with her friend Suzanne, who has swallowed a fish and needs help. Loridonna tells Suzanne that Dave is a doctor and gives him the phone; while Dave is talking to Suzanne, Loridonna talks seductively about wanting Maurice s meat . Turned on, Maurice tries to seal a deal, but Dave says Suzanne wants to kill herself. They drive Loridonna to Suzanne s house, where they discover that she is an alcoholic whose suicide was a false alarm.

Loridonna and Maurice begin making out, and Suzanne s husband Tony comes home and catches them, but he casually changes clothes while telling Maurice that she was once a man. Suzanne confirms this and tries to explain, but Maurice is too disappointed (and disgusted) to care. Tony then attempts to kill Dave, thinking he tried to seduce Suzanne. After explaining, Dave and Tony become friendly. Tony begins to grill some steaks, then is ambushed, shot, and killed by two hitmen.

Finding some of Tony s guns, Dave and Maurice fight back. The hitmen put them into the trunk of their car and leave them there while attending a party. Maurice manages to get out, then sees Goldbluth, a name from the cards they got from their boss. After freeing Dave, they start describing to party guests the tenderness of their steaks. The hitmen return looking for them. Dave is unable to leave because Goldbluth is rambling on. He signs a contract to buy meat, so they warn Goldbluth that two hitmen are here to kill him. Dave gives Goldbluth the gun Tony had when he was killed.

Maurice and Dave drive off, looking back to see shots fired. Goldbluth comes out without a scratch. Maurice and Dave return to their boss with seven orders and $21,000 up front from Goldbluth.

Cast

• Ray Romano as Maurice Schulz
• Kevin James as Dave Langer
• Mary Lynn Rajskub as Renee
• Jack Kehler as Dick Abbott
• Jon Polito as Leon Waterman
• Sofia Vergara as Loridonna
• Juliette Lewis as Suzanne
• Jim Doughan as Andy Wilson
• Kim Coates as Tony
• Michael Rapaport as Bobby
• Barry Newman as Boris
• Burt Reynolds as Goldbluth
• Eric Allan Kramer as Irving

Release

Grilled was originally titled Men Don t Quit, and was set for a worldwide theatrical release in 2005. Poor test screenings pushed it back, and the film was only theatrically released in the United Arab Emirates under its new title. The film was released in other territories straight-to-video.

Reception

Box office

The film only saw a theatrical performance in the United Arab Emirates. In its opening weekend, the film ranked third, grossing $26,012 from 12 theaters with an average of $2,167 per screen. The film dropped to fifth in its sophomore weekend with a decrease of 45.8%, grossing $14,103 from 10 theaters with an average of $1,410 per screen, before being pulled completely from all remaining theaters.

Critical response

The film received negative reviews from critics. Scott Weinberg of DVDTalk gave the film 2 out of 5 stars, writing, I suppose there s a great comedy to be made on the subject of door-to-door meat salesmen… actually, there probably isn t .

Home media

On the North American Region 1 DVD, bonus features include a single deleted scene, a making-of featurette, and a documentary on Romano and James real-life friendship.

Year	2006
ReleaseDate	2006-10-31
RuntimeMins	83
RuntimeStr	1h 23min
Plot	A couple of incompetent door-to-door meat salesmen have fallen so far behind on their quotas that they are finally issued an ultimatum.
Directors	Jason Ensler
Writers	William Tepper, Larry Hankin
Stars	Ray Romano, Kevin James, Sofía Vergara
Produced by	Cale Boyter, Toby Emmerich, Bradley Jenkel, Magnus Kim, Jon Klane, Rory Rosegarten, Andrew Sugerman, Jeff Sussman, William Tepper
Music by	Adam Cohen
Cinematography by	Lawrence Sher
Film Editing by	Narumi Inatsugu, Chris Peppe
Casting By	Mark Bennett
Production Design by	Tracey Gallacher
Art Direction by	Victoria Ruskin
Set Decoration by	Elizabeth Keenan
Costume Design by	Hope Hanafin
Makeup Department	Corina C. Duran-Rabichuk, Susan Mills, Ned Neidhardt, Heather Plott, Terrie Velazquez Owen
Production Management	Cathy Mickel Gibson
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Susan J. Hellmann, Albert M. Shapiro, Mark Trapenberg
Art Department	Michael Buha, Robert J. Carlyle, Scott Edward Collins, Steven E. Eyrse, Rina Gardener, Jonathan R. Hodges, Sandy Hubshman, Riley Sean Jones, Schelley Kiah, Steven Light-Orr, Christian Lopez, Christopher Neely, Keith Sale, Kelly Schultz, Gary Stel, Joel Venti, Teresa Raschilla
Sound Department	Michael Broomberg, Victor Ray Ennis, Marc Fishman, Paul Flinchbaugh, Detlef Halaski, Michael Hertlein, Daniel S. Irwin, Robert Jackson, Adam Jenkins, Kenneth L. Johnson, Randy Kelley, Paul Longstaffe, Glenn T. Morgan, Ryan Murphy, Peggy Names, Lucy Sustar, Edward Tise, David Young
Special Effects by	Ron Trost
Stunts	Alex Daniels, Steve Hart, Ian Quinn, Pat Romano, Bryon Weiss
Camera and Electrical Department	Andrew Bikichky, Frank Boone, Glenn Cannon, Steve Charnow, Julie Donovan, Eric Fletcher, Bryan G. Haigh, David Irwin, Jordan Lapsansky, Tommy Lohmann, Byron Shah, Jesse Olivares
Casting Department	Judy Cook
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Jason M. Moore, Carlane Passman, Katie Saunders, Marielle Tepper, Dana R. Woods
Editorial Department	Amy Flint Catherwood, Michael Hatzer, Erin Michelle Hopkins, Michael Struk
Location Management	Ernest Belding, Michael Soleau
Music Department	Jessica Dolinger, Jen Monnar, Michael Aarvold, Dan Wallin
Script and Continuity Department	Valeria Migliassi Collins
Transportation Department	Alan Kaminsky, Hugh Kelly, Wild Bill Laczko, Margo McKay, Shaun Ryan
Additional Crew	Cassandra Barbour, Dana Belcastro, Richard Bellos, Raymond Bulinski, Katie Eastridge, Joan Eisenberg, Nicole Ettinger, Jeff Gross, Stephen Gurley, George Tyler Hansen, Celeste Healy, Harrison Held, Marike Jainchill, Michael Judd, John LaBrucherie, Jason Laricchia, Kendra May, Lori Morris, Monica Muehlhause-Horn, Laura Sevier, Matt G. Sheets, Joe Steele, Scott L. Treger, Stephanie Wescott, Christine Wilcock, Kevin Zelman, Ronald C. Briggs Jr., Todd Quillen
Genres	Comedy, Crime
Companies	Avery Pix, The Jon Klane Company
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	R
ImDbRating	5.2
ImDbRatingVotes	5625
Keywords	gun,meat,evil man,salesman,restaurant