Clockwatchers

The title refers to ill-treated corporate temps, eager for the end of their working day...but might just as well denote the poor souls who choose to endure this thoroughly soporific movie, furtively and repeatedly glancing at their wristwatches. Parker Posey (The House of Yes), Toni Collette (Muriel's Wedding), Lisa Kudrow (Friends), and Alanna Ubach (Denise Calls Up) play four young women stupefied by clerical tedium and exasperated by office politics; as a former temp, I can confirm that the drudgery is borderline unendurable, but the trick is to convey that onscreen without putting the viewer to sleep, and first-time writer/director Jill Sprecher fails miserably. (When a subplot about which office worker is stealing trinkets from desk drawers is your film's equivalent of mystery and high drama, you're in big trouble.) No doubt there's an incisive, hilarious movie to be made about the millions of poor souls trapped in cramped cubicles without benefits or job security--Manpower is reportedly the country's #1 employer now--but this wan, uninspired time-waster ain't it. Not recommended. (M. D'Angelo)