Clockwatchers is an American comedy-drama film released in 1997. Directed by Jill Sprecher, it stars Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow, Toni Collette and Alanna Ubach as temporary office staffers in an office complex. The four become misfit friends in an office environment where they are ignored and mistrusted by their co-workers. Central to them all is Iris (Collette), a very mousy and quiet young professional who doesn't want to rock the boat. Margaret (Posey) is the polar opposite to Iris and a catalyst to help her change and speak up for herself. Paula (Kudrow) eagerly awaits post-work Happy Hours and the chance to hook up with the company's executives. And Jane (Ubach) is engaged to marry a jerk who is already cheating on her. Margaret hopes to become a permanent employee as an assistant to Mr. Lasky Bob Balaban but her dreams are thwarted when he suddenly dies.

A series of thefts start to occur in the office and suspicion falls on the temps, particularly Margaret. When Iris finds a plastic monkey that she thought was stolen inside Margaret's desk, she loses faith in her and believes she has been doing the stealing. Margaret plans a one-day strike from work and thinks her friends will join her in it, but they all come to work instead. The company's officious HR head fires Margaret. Afterwards, Iris and the other women's friendships come to an end; Iris reveals she only heard about Jane's wedding via a newspaper article and Paula goes to temp in another department. It is later revealed that another employee, a mute young woman from a rich household who became a permanent employee on her first day, was the culprit and that Margaret simply had an identical toy in her desk. Iris confronts the young woman when her diary (from which she does the film's narration) goes missing, and later receives a new diary and note of apology. Iris later is not hired for a job she really wanted, but ironically this helps motivate her to quit the temp field. But before she leaves the company, she is able to do Margaret a favor: one of the senior executives agrees to sign a letter of recommendation for Iris, but she tells him her name is Margaret and he has no idea that this isn't true. Iris then mails the letter to Margaret and bids the temporary worker goodbye.

External links