Top Five Films about Bad Jobs

September is going to see the release of Edinburgh Film Festival favourite Adventureland, a film about the trials and tribulations of having to hold down a terrible job for little pay. In honour of this latest entrant in the ‘films about bad jobs’ hall of fame, here are the top five worst jobs in movie land. (In no particular order)

1. Waiting (2006) A film about working in a family restaurant. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Anna Faris and Justin Long, Waiting follows the staff of ‘Shenaniganz’ as they try to get through a busy weekend shift. Along with serving the customers, they also play games involving gratuitous nudity, do terrible things to the food of people being less than nice and generally hate the manager as much as they can. Aside from being stupidly funny, Reynolds is the highlight as Monty a morally bankrupt waster with more charm than sense. Waiting is also surprisingly representative of what it is actually like to work in the food service industry. Not fun and often disgusting.
2. Office Space (1999) Written and directed by Mike Judge the creator of King of Hill, this film is about working as a small fish in a really big pond. Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) decides to blow off work as a cubicle guy in a company called ‘Initech’ on the same day as people are getting sacked. When his work friends get fired they group together to stick it to the man, by planting a computer virus that’ll embezzle millions of dollars from the company. The first feature length film from Judge, Office Space is a great example of how soul destroying it is to work in an office and how easy it is to rip them off.
3. Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) Not so much funny as heartbreaking, Glengarry Glen Ross follows a group of salesmen as they try to secure the best leads in the company. Based on a play by David Mamet and starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey and Alan Arkin, Glengarry Glen Ross is an acting masterclass. Lemmon shines as the former top seller Shelley ‘the machine’ Levine who needs to close just one more time to keep his head above water. Extreme competition, paranoia and all consuming jealousy, the job of real estate salesman is one no- one will want after watching this. Terrifying.
4. The Simpsons (1989- present day) Not really a film, though there was The Simpsons Movie (2007), Homer’s daily life as a nuclear safety technician in the Nuclear power plant is an essay in dead end jobs. Woefully under qualified for the job he is constantly asleep or eating doughnuts. Not only this but his boss can never remember his name and he is frequently referred to as ‘that boob from sector 7 G’ or a variant of the same. If he’s not putting the town of Springfield at risk of a nuclear meltdown then it’s obviously his day off. It’s not all Homer’s fault though as the power plant itself is in a horrifying state of disrepair. Don’t work in nuclear power, you’ll probably die.
5. Adventureland (2009) The new kid on the block. Set in the eighties Adventureland follows a group of misfits and losers who work at the local theme park. Rides is the coolest place to work even though the kids on games are the James Deans of theme parks, this is a hierarchy worthy of Mean Girls (2004). Featuring an obscene amount drink driving, Adventureland is also about not dipping your pen in the company ink and just getting on with it. It’s better to visit the park than work at it, don’t apply for a job at Alton Towers.

And one of the coolest jobs in movie history:
1. Empire Records (1995) No less misfitty than the kids in Adventureland, the staff at ‘Empire Records’ love their jobs so much that they’re willing to take on the man to save it. Though that wouldn’t be necessary if Lucas hadn’t stolen the rent money to go to Atlantic City. If you don’t work there you wish you did Featuring a killer soundtrack and the coolest kids in town Empire Records has the job everyone dreams of having. Happy hunting.