A new start for ‘Employee of the Month’

Dane Cook may be one of the hottest stand-up comics around, but his first major movie comedy, “Employee of the Month” (Lionsgate, $29), fizzled with critics and audiences.

Cook plays Zack, a goodnatured slacker working at a Costco-type store who attempts to become an employee of the month to impress the store’s new cashier (Jessica Simpson). Dax Shepard plays the store’s No. 1 employee, who tries to thwart Zack’s ambitions. Extras include a gag reel, a much stronger original opening featuring a quirky turn by Eva Longoria, and commentary from Cook and director Greg Coolidge.

The underdog sports movie “Gridiron Gang” (Sony, $29) features an earnest performance from former wrestler the Rock, here billed as Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson. In this drama, inspired by a true story, he plays a former football player who becomes a counselor at a juvenile detention center. He decides to teach his kids football and have them compete with high schools. Included in the extras are the standard behind-the-scenes featurettes, a look at the intense football training camp, deleted scenes and better-than-average commentary from director Phil Joanou and screenwriter Jeff Maguire, who discuss the challenges of filming at a real detention facility.

Thai martial-arts phenom Tony Jaa stars in the action-thriller “The Protector” (Weinstein, $30) as a young fighter who travels to Australia to find stolen elephants. Extras include an amazing martial-arts demonstration by Jaa, a deleted fight sequence, the uncut Thai version called “Tom Yum Goong,” and knowledgeable commentary from Asian film expert Bey Long.

Blood and guts flow freely on “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre -- the Beginning” (unrated version) (New Line, $30), which explores how Leatherface got that way. Even the aptly titled behind-the-scenes documentary “Down to the Bone” is not for the squeamish. Rounding out the disc are deleted and extended scenes and commentary from director Jonathan Liebesman and producers Andrew Form and Brad Fuller.

Also new:

“Mouchette” (Criterion Collection, $40): French director Robert Bresson’s haunting, despairing 1967 drama about a 14-year-old girl living in the French countryside who has an abusive father and a dying mother. Extras include a fascinating documentary chronicling the production, the eccentric trailer created by Jean-Luc Godard -- and historical commentary from film scholar Tony Rayns.

“The Animation Show (Vol. 1 and 2)” (Paramount, $27); “Rotation” (First Run, $25): “Council of the Gods” (First Run, $25); “The Best of Hootenanny” (Shout, $45).

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susan.king@latimes.com