Absolutely the worst movie.

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

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. (There were also choice bit roles by James Elliott of "Jag," Bob Balaban and Paul Dooley and they didn't recognize them either.) There was a row of young kids in the front for some reason who talked as much as the seniors through the movie and kept going in and out to get food and slamming the door. All of which is hard to take during a comedy. 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! And temporary office placement companies are now the largest employers in the country.(originally written 5/26/1998)

CLOCKWATCHERS is a rare breed of film: it works as a comedy for a while, and then transitions into serious, basic drama without breaking a sweat. That's not easy to do at all.The saddest story in this movie is...actually, there are several stories that are pretty damn depressing (in a good way, not in a causing viewers to need a lot of alcohol to get over seeing them). The relationship between the four temps never seemed like the Ya-Ya Sisterhood or anything like that, but it was still a shock to see how rapidly things deteriorated between them. And the brilliance of the kaleidoscope-like script by the Sprecher sisters is evident in how the responsibility for the loss of friendships changes with different viewings. Is it the fault of Margaret, who is too smart to play dumb but might be much more happy if she could learn to try? Of Iris, who at a crucial moment makes a judgment about Margaret, and then doesn't correct it? Or Paula, who is the first person to turn on Margaret and only seems interested in her own life? Or Jane, who is a shell of a person? 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. The company I worked at was actually a great place, and my boss was a terrific guy who knew mine (and everyone else's) names. Yet the work was mostly repetitive typing and filing, there were times when I simply had nothing to do and ended up scrambling to fill the time, and the thought of doing a job like that for longer than the period I did it (eight weeks) would have been like a prison sentence embedded in free society. I decided to leave because I needed to find a full-time job, and was lucky to do so about a month after my last temp day. 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. 9/10.

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.

This is a really provocative movie that is artfully filmed.Good art often offers commentary on the times. When you're in the midst of an era, it's hard to see what characterizes it. I think Clockwatchers does a terrific job of capturing a facet of the temp world of the 80's/90's. I was a temp for a year in 1988. It's quite accurate.But you don't have to be a temp to recognize these characters. Yes Dilbert, yes Office Space, and especially the beginning of Joe vs the Volcano have these same foils. But I think Clockwatchers' take was unique. The characters were well developed while still being archetypes. There was a subtlety and style that all the others listed chose against.The direction and cinematography of this film is terrific. It takes guts to burn film doing a close-up of someone's glasses for 10 seconds. There is real art to this film. The writing, the directing, the pacing, editing, all right up at the top of the scale. The acting was fine, but I don't think it's the strong suit of this movie. Toni Collette is a standout. While I love Parker Posey, I think she was probably a bit over the top here. The Muzak, while as mood-setting as the buzz of florescent lighting, can grate at a viewer.This film touched on too may things to list them all. Here's a sample... What are you doing with your life if you're waiting for it to burn off? Isn't it exhausting and poisoning to pretend to look busy all day? If you are a cog in a machine, and accomplishing nothing at that too, did you really even exist? Are the "troublemakers" in life getting us in trouble, or offering us freedom (note there are two people here stirring up the pot)? What is theft (and theft of services)? Where is the dividing line between unethical play and immorality? At what point do you give up on the dream of personal growth? Are some people "better" than others? What does beauty (and grooming) have to do with it? Does the corporate hierarchy define our worth to others or our self-worth? What is loyalty and betrayal, to whom do you owe how much, and how do you give consent to those obligations/ownership? 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. That's terrific irony. :)