Naturally, work as a temporary employee suits her well. She's able to leave before she gets too close to anyone, and she can live her quite life without making a ripple. That is until she starts at Global Credit and meets a gaggle of other temps who are downright open about their hatred of their jobs. The four soon become fast friends - and when someone like Parker Posey works in your office, why wouldn't you want to be friends with her? It's all fun and games, until something terrible happens that sends shockwaves throughout the office: someone is stealing money and items from people's cubes, and everyone is a suspect.

Clockwatchers is one of those rare films that starts out as comedy of the mundane office life, but soon turns to something else much different. The tone switch from office comedy to light indy drama (think Rushmore), is really refreshing. The core cast is completely great as well. Toni Collette is perfect as the shy girl who finds her voice and Parker Posey is typically great as the bossy and outlandish mischief-maker of the office. Lisa Kudrow manages to channel someone a little different than Phoebe, playing her character as an extremely vacant but conflicted aspiring actress.

Not that it's any big surprise, but the temps know why they're hired: they're more dispensable and the company doesn't have to pay them benefits. Clockwatchers is a small movie that taps into this but a small movie with a heart firmly at its center. It goes to show that life, even as a bitter temporary employee, is only what you make of it.

Movie Grade: B+

Video: 3 out of 5
Given it's stature as an independent movie that had to scrape together about twenty different financial sources, don't expect too much from the visuals (or DVD transfers, for that matter). It's a little grainy and a little desaturated, but come to think of it, it really fits in the telling of the story. Also, it's not anamorphic if you care about things like that.
Widescreen letterbox - 1.77:1