I’ve been a devoted fan of the now-iconic movie "Office Space" since I started my first corporate gig, a job defined by its share of beige cubicle walls, jam-prone printers and aggressively mediocre free coffee. There is a certain catharsis in watching Peter Gibbons stick it to the man, and for years, I thought it was the definitive word on the 90-to-5 grind. Yet, despite how perfectly that film skewers the corporate machine, I’ve come to realize there is another movie that outshines it, at least in my opinion.
Directed by Jill Sprecher, "Clockwatchers" is a masterclass in the quiet desperation of the workplace. While "Office Space" goes for the broad, satirical jugular, this film focuses on the marginalized lives of four women working as temps for a nondescript credit company. They exist on the fringes of the office social hierarchy, unmoored and undervalued, until they find themselves swept up in the escalating drama of an office thief.
