Movies

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. Look into it.

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. Toni Collette plays the new temporary in a nondescript building wherein office-incidentals are slowly disappearing from the supply cabinet. The ensemble acting is delightfully accurate, and the strife which ensues in this scenario is comically overwrought and horrifying. Sprecher's direction is focused and brave (no overtures to broadly comical sensibilities), and she nimbly stretches the film's satirical edge quite far without faltering. The movie is a genuine American original, and by the final third I couldn't wait to see it again from the start. ***1/2 from ****

I certainly expected a riot of a film, a very brass comedy in the vein on Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion. Why? Well, if one looked at the poster and the summary. in reality, it's mostly a drama, and deeper than I had expected going into it. The four leads are very strong, and while she has the most screen time, Collette does not have the showiest role. That would be Parker Posey who is great at this type of role. Lisa Kudrow's character is also something we've seen from her before, but she's so fantastic at it. She's not as over-the-top as her character in Friends, but she gives it so much nuance and quiet humor, the type that'd be surprising if I already didn't know how great of an actress she was. This is definitely recommended.