Favorite workrelated movies can be hilarious, inspirational
As Hollywood celebrates the 93rd Academy Awards on Sunday, April 25, we wanted to do a best-of list of our own. But instead of focusing on “best actress” or “best screenplay,” we put out a survey with a pretty simple question: What’s your favorite movie about work? Responses ranged from comedies to dramas to documentaries. Favorites included “Office Space,” “Trading Places,” “A Thousand Clowns,” “Glengarry Glen Ross,” Freedom Writers,” “9 to 5” and others.
A good film can inspire them to modify their career plans in an effort to do what they’re best at while doing it in a way that they can truly enjoy. “For me, that movie was ‘Chef’ with Jon Favreau. It’s kind of cheesy and predictable but the story of a guy who gives up a restaurant to run a food truck — and ends up loving it — really spoke to me,” says Erin Thompson, a graphic designer in San Jose, California. “I’m into design, not food, but I hated working for the dot-com industry and had bad experiences with the corporate world but I love to design, I love to create.” After watching “Chef” and “making tons and tons of phone calls,” Thompson left her job and began working as a freelance designer. “Now I pick and choose,” she says. “I have a great client base and I feel like I get to compromise less and truly present effective, creative work to my clients.”
A favorite movie about working doesn’t have to reflect someone’s career or their aspirations. For Sarah Newkirk, a mortgage underwriter in Waterford, Wisconsin, that movie is 2006’s “The Devil Wears Prada.” Newkirk writes that her love for the movie has nothing to do with her own career. “It doesn’t inspire me career-wise, mainly because Anne Hathaway’s character is sort of entitled and irresponsible, and Meryl Streep’s is cartoonishly mean, but I just love the fashion and the hilarious oneliners,” she writes.
Sometimes, a favorite film can provide a little inspiration and a lot of laughs. For Lori from Batavia, Illinois, that movie is “Working Girl,” the 1988 film starring Melanie Griffith, Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver. “I appreciated the story of a woman who empowered herself to command respect, even if she was deceitful,” writes Lori. “That provided the humor.”
For some, the best movies about work are those that speak to the importance of their profession. “As a journalism professor, I love ‘Newsies’. The choreographed dances of child laborers might be problematic, but the music is catchy and celebrates the power of the press,” writes Dr. Katie Foss, a professor at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Sometimes movies can provide a little insight into one’s career. Although Mark Miller wasn’t a child actor growing up in Racine, Wisconsin, the professional trombonist and composer currently living and working in New York, can relate to 2002’s “Death to Smoochy,” starring Robin Williams and Edward Norton. “It’s a dark comedy about the rise and fall of creatives and execs in children’s television,” Miller writes. “Not a typical ‘work’ movie but I can relate to both Smoochy — the young purist who believes in himself — and Rainbow Randolph — the established star who falls from grace.”
Finally, for some, movies with workrelated themes are about much more than work. “I loved ‘Avalon’ very much because of the interaction between the family and the family business throughout the years,” writes Merril Seal of Park Ridge, Illinois, of the 1990 Barry Levinson film about an immigrant family establishing its roots in the United States. “They developed a successful retail furniture and appliance superstore back in the late ’40s and ’50s. Their lives were forever changed.”