Clockwatchers

Plot synopsis:
Iris (Collette) is a shy young professional who doesn't want to rock the boat at the office where she temps. Margaret (Posey) is the polar opposite, and serves as a catalyst to help Iris become more assertive. Paula (Kudrow) eagerly awaits post-work happy hours and the chance to flirt with attractive men. Jane (Ubach) is engaged to marry a jerk who is already cheating on her. Margaret hopes to become a permanent employee as an assistant to Mr. Lasky (Bob Balaban), but her dreams are thwarted when he suddenly dies. The four temps form a camaraderie which assists them in getting through their boring and tedious days at work.
A series of thefts occur in the office and suspicion falls on the temps, particularly Margaret. When Iris finds a plastic monkey inside Margaret's desk that she had thought was stolen, Iris loses faith in Margaret and believes that she is the office thief. Margaret suggests a one-day strike from work due to mistreatment and being under appreciated as temps, and her friends halfheartedly agree to join her, but on the appointed day Margaret is the only one who does not come to work. As a result, the company's officious head of human resources (Debra Jo Rupp) fires Margaret, and management micromanages the remaining three temps. Iris, Paula and Jane's friendship comes to an end as result of the stress, ending the camaraderie among the temporary workers, and eventually they all go their separate ways. Paula is upset when she learns of Jane's wedding from a newspaper announcement, to which she was not invited, and leaves to work in another department.
It is later discovered that another employee (a rich girl who was hired as a permanent employee after her first day) was the thief and that Margaret simply had a similar toy in her desk. Iris confronts the thief when her diary disappears; Iris later receives a new diary and note of apology.
When Iris is not hired for a permanent job she really wanted, she quits the temp pool. A senior executive agrees to sign a letter of recommendation for Iris. Iris takes advantage of the fact that executives rarely learn the temps names, and she tells the executive that her name is Margaret, so that Margaret can finally receive the recommendation she had been striving for as a temp. Iris then mails the letter of recommendation to Margaret with a note.

Tags: psychedelic, humor

Review:
The only thing that I can think when reading the negative comments left for this movie is that the people who wrote them have *clearly* never temped.
As someone who spent four years of his life wasting away in other people's cubicles, I can tell you with complete authority that this movie gets every mind-numbing, insulting, and degrading aspect of the experience dead on.
I suppose you should be thankful if you can't relate to what's going on in this film because it probably means you've never had to tip-toe into some middle manager's office on a Friday afternoon to get a signature on your time card.As for those who think "Clockwatchers" is "dull" or "boring," it's called subtly.
Inappropriately marketed as a comedy, Clockwatchers is actually a sad, almost disturbing slice-of-life concerning the empty lives of four office temps and the realistic and/or idealized ways they seek to escape their individual predicaments.
Early in the film, Margaret comments on how `a person can just drift through life like they're not connected to anyone or anything.'  Later, Iris admits that  `even if a person wanted to break free, they could find out they've got nowhere else to go.' Ultimately, the Sprechers' four-character quasi-study can be applied to everyone, every day.
This is a really provocative movie that is artfully filmed.Good art often offers commentary on the times.
Work/friends/family are all portrayed as villains and allies wielding this loyalty Sword of Damocles.One IMDB reviewer said this film was a good way to kill time after work.
Toni Collette plays the ultra-shy newcomer to Global Credit, the ultimate transnational corporation, who slowly comes to realize that the doomed bond she makes with three other temps is an extremely sacred event in her life.
Iris comes full circle at the end of the film, confronts one of her many bosses whom plot against her, and atones for not standing with Parker Posey, who is the life of the party as Margaret.
Ms. Sprecher and her sister Karen wrote a delicious movie that is on the one level a satire about the way "temps" are used in an office, and it's at the same time, a character study about these four souls at the center of the movie.Each one of the young women in the film has a problem.
Iris is the one that stays the longer and she is the one that discovers the mystery of the missing things in the office, but alas, it's too late, because at that time she leaves the temp job.Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow and Alana Ubach, are perfect as the four temps.
Helen Firzgerald, who only has a few lines, cast a giant shadow as the creepy new employee that wants to make friends with Iris, only to be ignored.The Sprecher sisters created a film that feels real a situation one has seen is prevalent in the office setting..
She is at once obnoxious, brash, funny and fun...and yet, very vulnerable, struggling so hard to be recognized and very terrified of where her life is headed.I could give similar praise to the performances of Toni Collette, Alanna Ubach and (believe it or not) Lisa Kudrow.Director Jill Sprecher (I will have to watch more from her) has aimed her dart at office politics: The pecking order, the self-absorption, the pointlessness of it all, the feeling of "Oh, how I would I love to leave this place but where would next month's rent come from?"...and Jill has hit the bullseye!.
Blistering black comedy co-written by Jill Sprecher (who also directed) and Karen Sprecher, "Clockwatchers" gives us a suffocating office setting so vivid and real I half-expected my own co-workers to show up in it.
The office politics, the way the permanent workers "look down" on the temps, the menial and mind-numbing tasks, the good old boys (mostly white males, at that time) who were in charge and above it all.
I saw this on cable last night, just 2 days after seeing the Sprecher sisters' latest film, 13 Conversations About One Thing - that was the reason I stayed up til 2:30 a.m. to watch it, in fact (please read my review of 13 Conversations, posted yesterday).
This film is linear - one scene following the other chronologically - and therefore not as challenging to the viewer as 13 Conversations, but it does leave its mark (as one character in the movie has been told to do).
Toni Collette's face is still in my memory  - her terrified-to-do-or-say-the-wrong-thing rabbit eyes, her rapture at feeling connected to her 3 fellow temp workers (and specifically, seeing her nose crinkle the way it does when she smiles), the desolation of seeing their bond destroyed by wretched but inevitable bone-chilling office politics and fear.
If you are looking for a wham-bam laugh out loud work movie, go see Office Space.
For some reason I'd been resisting seeing this film until a friend thrust it into my hands and said, "C'mon, Toni Collette and Parker Posey, how can you go wrong?"Maybe I was resisting because I didn't want to see my life up there on the screen.
Certain moments threaten to veer into David Lynch-style self-conscious surrealism, but the director reigns these moments in, in the nick of time.It's a film about small things happening in an enclosed space, and the friendships that grow between the most unlikely of people, due mostly to proximity.
it was typical 80s we're-all-gonna-get-rich pie-in-the-sky dreck and I forgot most of the movie by the time I passed the popcorn counter on the way out.Enter Clockwatchers - the 90s take on corporate life where the central characters aren't even granted the luxury of being employees of the company.
But with excellent performances by Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow (who I usually can't stand) and Bob Balaban it's well worth a view..
Saying this is a movie about a bunch of office temps is like saying "American Beauty" is a movie about a man going through mid-life crisis.
I'll give you a hint, Lisa Kudrow's character has Bulimia Nervosa.Guess who has OCD?"Never ignore the Obvious and Never over-look the Obscure"A great Movie!
This, along with demonstrations of wasting time at work, were meant to give the audience a taste of what office life is like.
I think it succeeded rather well, that is EXACTLY what many office environments are like.I'm sort of mixed on Parker Posey, I like her but I'm still waiting for her to develop a new character.
When the credits started for "Clockwatchers" - Toni Collette, Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow - the senior citizens around me in the art house theater complained they hadn't heard of anybody.
This is a great movie for those of us in unsatisfactory office cubicle jobs - ideal for those in temp hell.
Not necessarily laugh out loud funny all the way through but biting social satire about office life today for those at the bottom end of a ladder that doesn't go anywhere.Collette's central character is almost too bland and vacant towards the end as there's no ringing conclusion just some small revenges, but it's all in character and place.
Kudrow gets to be a bit nastier and practical life-facing than her usual roles.Clearly the sister creators of this movie have spent some time as temps!
I'm surprised how many people see this as a boring film that does nothing but chronicle the minutiae of modern-day office life.
'Clockwatchers' is a relationship film which also examines the lives of the new breed of second-class citizen in the late 20th century workplace, the temp.Iris (Toni Collette) is a meek temporary hire who stands out about as much as the Muzak at her new assignment, a large credit firm.
The office drama is played out in great detail, and the solidarity of the temps is one of the war's casualties.This is a fine, above-average first effort from director Jill Sprecher, who wrote the screenplay with her sister Karen.
I have never worked as an office temp before, but after seeing this movie, I have a very clear image as to what it must be like.
The film does a perfect job of making the viewer feel like part of the office community (which isn't always a good thing to want to feel).
I have known so many people like this character - quiet, shy, someone who lets life go by without making his/her mark.
This movie successfully "marries Kafka with Dilbert." The visual beauty and serenity of this film is astonishing and mirrors the dreamlike drift of the film's plot, a wry look at the lives of 4 women lost in a vapid corporate office where they are temp workers.
Maybe it's Cleo the full-time worker, or Barbara the officer Rule Bitch, or---the situation that the company puts them all in, hoping to assign blame, not unlike what I was considering.I related more strongly to this movie having been an office temp worker than I suspect I would have if I'd never taken on such work.
CLOCKWATCHERS gets the tone of temp life down pitch-perfectly; no matter how good being a temp can be, it's a lower caste in the office system, period.And the last few scenes, where Iris pulls off a downright brilliant plan to help her friend at last, is a perfect capper here.
Quiet temp Iris Chapman (Toni Collette) starts work at a cold, soulless office.
The main characters are four women who entered the working world with hopes of making a life for themselves that would set them apart from the rest of the rat race, but had their dreams dashed when they realized that in today's crowded job market they had to take what they could get.
A very realistic, funny and well directed movie about 4 women who are trying to make a career with the limited, thankless position of a temp in a large corporation.Everything from the sea of cubicles in a blandly colored floor, to the ridiculous elevator style music playing continuously is typical of a large business in any city, USA.
Tony Collette and Parker Posey give stellar performances and the supporting cast of the office supply watchdog (Stanley DeSantis), and Bob Balaban as the obsessed corporate climber, pained a very real picture of the office politics and emotional, self centered wrecks people turn into when fighting for their chance of recognition..
If you want to watch a movie that makes fun of office work and is funny...this is the movie for you..
You can really feel the quiet desperation of each character and can almost taste the deadening atmosphere of this lifeless corporation.This film will be boring to those people who find it difficult to pick up on subtlety and those who have trouble with "getting" social satire.
And like everyone has said, if you have ever worked in an office, it all rings painfully true--this is where some of the humor comes from....definitely not laugh-out-loud humor, but we all have Office Space for that....Everything from the camera angles to the usage of silence is so well done in this film.And, can you ever go wrong with Parker Posey?
For anybody who simply sees this film as a boring comedy about office work, I think you missed the point.Clockwatchers tells the story of four young women, and their experiences temping in an office setting, but their job is a metaphor for life, and their office is the world around them, and around us all.
if you can hang on for ten quiet minutes, Parker Posey's character splashes into the calm of the heroine's life and makes things interesting for her and for us.
The friends of mine who really like this movie - well, they have lived this lifestyle (temp workers).
When "Clockwatchers" was over, I actually found myself depressed, and menaced by the possibility that my life could turn out like the characters'.
Watching this film was like reliving the jobs I had in my 20's - waiting for 5 o'clock, looking busy, trying to impress people who didn't give two hoots about  you, and the dreams...ah, the dreams...This is a very believable study of working life for the bottom rung female.
But I have had the same transient sort of friendships, and the ease with which the women forgot their bond made me feel strangely depressed.From playing office chair games (spinning, going up and down) to stacking all my highlighters, to putting a stupid little plastic toy on my desk to cheer it up, I found myself laughing or smiling with recognition.I did think the characters were awfully, awfully bleak, though, which of course was the point of the movie.
Anyone who has worked as an office temp can appreciate this movie.
I think this movie is good.It has some nice camerawork, considering the limited potential of an office for filming.The actresses rock.
I think office life is very intriguing, so this film satisfied.Good flick for Parker Posey fans..
Having her assisted by actresses like Posey, Kudrow, and Ubach are something of an indie miracle.In addition, there is smart, believable focus on the people who work outside of the girls' circle in the office.
There are serious truths about the white collar world - how dehumanizing workers is a regular event, how the overworked are undervalued, and the constant fear of replacement never subsides - and Clockwatchers explores it maturely and, to some even, in an eye-opening manner.Starring: Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, and Alanna Ubach.
Parker Posey is OK and Toni Collette has always something to offer in any movie she appears.
Interesting, humorous, real-to-life film, "Clockwatchers" offers a powerful and kind of pessimistic view of modern societies' anxieties,  relationships and friendships that cannot last in an "Orwellish" job environment.
I liked a lot about this movie, especially the transformation of Collete's character, the sarcastic Parker Posey, but ultimately this Dilbert-esque satire amounted to little more than a couple of staples and a pad of Post-It notes.
OK, so there were a lot of people who said this was boring, but some people also said this film was funny and brilliant.Many people said that this film's humor was subtle, and that's why many people didn't "get it." I admit that this film seems true-to-life, but simply making a movie about real life isn't funny - because a bunch of women coping with office life isn't funny!
I saw this movie for Parker Posey, and she didn't disappoint, playing another one of her headstrong characters, but with a little more sadness to her manic side.
This movie allows you to look in on the challenges and small triumphs of four female office temps as they struggle to just get through the day.
I promise.Strong performances from the entire cast but Toni Collette and Parker Posey really shine.The strength of the film is how it somehow reveals the corporate world for what it is: completely de-humanizing.
Clockwatchers was more than just a film about how it's like to be a temp worker.
Clockwatchers is similar to my own perception of what it would be like to work at an office: sporadic moments of excitement in between periods where nothing really happens and occasionally boring.
Iris represents the new temp, while Margaret is the sardonic temp less than happy with her surroundings (and I also noticed: Margaret acts insulted when she is considered as the possible office supplies thief, yet early in the film she takes a set of shot glasses from a bar without much thought.), Lisa Kudrow plays an aspiring actress, and Jane is the meek worker.Also in Clockwatchers are the people around these four characters, all of whom seem weathered by the monotony of office life.
In addition to being boring, it provides another question: When the film is over, are the workers going to realize the waste office work is and stop ignoring the temps?
The cast alone was more than enough to make me switch on the TV and watch it, but what we have here, is a classic case of wasted talent.Toni Collette ('The Sixth Sense'), Lisa Kudrow ('Friends'), Parker Posey ('Scream 3'), Alanna Ubach ('The Brady Bunch Movie') and Jamie Kennedy ('Scream') all star in this low-brow drama.I thought the story was actually very boring, and the script seemed lifeless.
This is a very bleak film...if you're looking to unwind from work, this is exactly the wrong movie to watch.
Why make a film about office work?.
(This is the movie that made me fall in love with Toni Col. A Great Indie Film.
"Clockwatchers" begins as a cute little comedy about a group of four female office "temps" working in a corporate cubicle colony, living life by night and blending with the graywall by day.
Contrary to some perspectives, this movie deftly covered what it is like both to be a temp, and to deal with office politics.
While I was thinking it would be a big comedy because Lisa Kudrow and Toni Collette appeared in it, it is actually a drama with a good dollop of satire on business life.Parker Posey is as wonderful as ever, and while the end of the movie drags a little bit, Toni Collette gets to have a moment that is priceless as she confronts Cleo, the recently hired permanent secretary..
After recognizing all the female leads (okay, I couldn't ID Parker Posey), I thought this might be a good movie.But I kept waiting for something GOOD to happen.Yes, I enjoyed watching it, but it basically was about the mundane life of being a temp.I enjoyed the performances..
One has to wonder what actors with such talent as Parker Posey and Lisa Kudrow were thinking when they agreed to star in this film.
Toni Collette, with Parker Posey are temps for the "big" company, Global Credit.
Clockwatchers tries to compensate by having office-temp Iris, played by Toni Collette, deliver overdubbed soliloquies about life at the edges of total human anonymity.