| Clockwatchers is an obscure little film filled with familiar faces (three from Waiting for Guffman alone!) and an interesting take on the mind-numbing misery and humiliation of being a temp in today's corporate environment. But it's not a political statement - rather, a creepily surreal comedy with more bemused smiles as the target reaction than out and out guffawing. Directed and co-written (with Karen Sprecher) by Jill Sprecher, Clockwatchers has a very personal feel to it. |
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| I think everyone has felt the way our main four characters feel, but few are ever brave enough to admit it, even to their fellow beleaguered temps. |
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The ensemble of Parker Posey (in her usual spitfire outsider spaz role), Lisa Kudrow (temp slut), Toni Collette (always underappreciated, and she brings that to bear here) and Alanna Ubach (the pretty one who doesn't *really* need this job) have a Breakfast Clubby sense of demographic and bonding. They each typify some element of humanity that gets trapped in temping hell, and they bond and dissolve with the same ease as the princess, the criminal, the geek, the athlete, and the basket case. |
| Everyone is great, possible greater than the material, but I felt that the dryness of the material matched the dryness of the subject matter - NBC's "Working" treads the same path but tries to make it wacky - the not-wackiness is what makes Clockwatchers more real. That, and the acting. |
| The production design of Clockwatchers is great - brilliant use of almost no money - the office is dismal, Toni Collette's home is lush and warm, implying character that doesn't get explored but the interestingness of her home contrasts nicely with the flat non-persona she is saddled with at work. Icky green, stark, vaguely outdated, everything looks great except the appallingly horrid costumes. |
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| Edi Guignere is the offender so unless her unflattering fashions and vile color schemes were a purposeful choice to make all the characters look like Good Will Shopping freakazoids, don't hire her! |
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I was bummed to see the camera skip lightly over important, plot-related detail - not that *I* need to be hammered in the head with anything, I mean, I *noticed* the stuff, but I bet people who don't prop-watch as much as I do would miss a lot of connections. Like some of the folks I was with at the movie, for example. And they are scientists! But then the movie turns around and hammers in some detail to MAKE SURE you see it. It was a little uneven but definitely interesting. |
| Good performances and nice ensemble, and that Randy guy from Scream. I wanted to learn a little more about the peripheral characters and get a little less whining from the main temps, but then again, temping is all about getting to know only certain people. It's worth a watch. |
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