Released 1997
Stars Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Alanna Ubach
Directed by Jill Sprecher

"Clockwatchers" is a wicked, subversive comedy about the hell on earth occupied by temporary office workers. Hired by the day, fired on whims, they're victims of corporate apartheid: They have no rights or benefits and can't even call their desks their own. They're always looking at Polaroids of someone else's family.

This is a rare film about the way people actually live. It's about the new world of security cameras, Muzak, cubicle life and hoarding office supplies. "Try not to make too many mistakes," a new temp worker is told. "These forms are expensive." When she botches some forms, she throws them out in the ladies' room to hide her crime. The toilet, indeed, is the only sanctuary in a big office: the refuge, the retreat, the confessional. Only when your underwear is off can you find a space to call your own.

I take hope when I see a movie like this because it means somebody is still listening and watching. Most new movies are about old movies; this one is about the way we live now. "Clockwatchers" is the kind of movie that can change lives by articulating anger; a few of the people who see it are going to make basic changes because of it--they're going to revolt--and 10 years from now the Sprecher sisters will get a letter from one of them, thanking them. There's that, and then there's also the way the movie is so mercilessly funny, because it sees stupidity so clearly.

Summary by Roger Ebert