Sunday afternoons are when it typically hits. You know the feeling, when you get the shivers, and you sit thinking about what’s to come after a relaxing weekend. That feeling is called the “Sunday Scaries,” and the cause of it is going to work on Monday. This feeling hits particularly hard if you work with a boss that you absolutely loath. But, you need the job because the bills aren’t going to pay for themselves, no matter how much we wish for that to be true.
In order to cope with the demanding pressures of your job, you put on a good movie about employees who (may) have it worse than you do. The workplace has long been an area that movie directors have wanted to explore, from the hilarious to the downright chilling; and, we’re going to be honest here, most of those movies may not be great to watch if your boss is present. That’s why we’ve curated a list of the worst workplace movies to watch with your boss. These movies depict bad manager behavior, employee uprisings, and even a plot to un-alive their workplace tormentors. So, without further ado, let’s dive in. Just make sure the boss isn’t reading this!
7
‘9 to 5’ (1980)
It’s no secret that women in the workplace have it rough. Not only do they have to deal with lower pay than their male counterparts, but also with bosses that treat them less than equal. So, what’s a woman to do? Well, if they’re Judy Bernly (Jane Fonda), Violet Newstead (Lily Tomlin), and Doralee Rhodes (Dolly Parton), you decide that enough is enough, and it’s time to get even. That was the central premise behind 1980s 9 to 5, one of the funniest comedies ever made.
Directed by Colin Higgin, 9 to 5 follows our three ladies as they live out their fantasies of getting revenge and getting rid of their evil boss, Franklin M. Hart Jr. (Dabney Coleman), whom they describe as “sexist and bigoted,” among other horrible things. It was quite satisfying seeing these women rise up and get even with Hart, and not only was 9 to 5 hilarious, but also quite inspirational. The movie spoke on a topic that was taboo at the time, but they dared to speak about it, and as such, became one of the best workplace films ever made. Oh, and that theme song sung by Dolly Parton, a certified banger.
6
‘A Christmas Carol’ (1951)
If, on the off chance, your company decides to have a movie day during the holidays (we know it won’t happen, but just follow us here), please, for the love of God, don’t pick A Christmas Carol to watch with your boss in the room. An adaptation of the famed novel written by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol tells the famous story of Ebenezer Scrooge (Alastair Sim), a man who deliberately refuses to celebrate Christmas, and tells two men collecting money for the poor to go kick rocks. Oh, and on top of that, he demands that his clerk come to work early on Christmas Day. What a Grinch!
So, in order to stir the Christmas spirit out of him, he’s visited by three ghosts, who warn him that he must change his ways or be condemned to wandering the world in agony. We often refer to A Christmas Carol as the quintessential Christmas movie, but this can also double as a movie about workplace abuse by the boss, especially around the holidays. Admit it, you have referred to your boss as a “Scrooge” at one point in time (or multiple times), so maybe, if you ever have that holiday movie to watch at work, it might be best that you don’t include A Christmas Carol on the list. You might get a nasty side eye from your superior.
5
‘The Assistant’ (2019)
When The Assistant was released in 2019, the divide between critics and audiences was palpable. While critics praised Julia Garner‘s performance, and how the minimalist feel of the film allowed Garner’s performance to stand out even more, audiences at the time hated it. They felt the movie was slow, even boring, and it never “paid off” in the end. But time heals every divide, and today, The Assistant is considered a cult classic.
Here, we follow Jane (Garner), a junior assistant who was recently hired at a film production company in New York City. We see her working long hours and trying to keep up with the ever increasingly demanding tasks thrust upon her by her boss, and it makes her stressed out. One of the most memorable scenes within The Assistant (and the one that landed it on this list), is the meeting Jane has with the HR executive (Matthew Macfadyen). That scene will make your skin crawl, and will only reinforce the notion that HR isn’t there for their employees, they’re only there to protect the company. It’s a jarring scene, and one you wouldn’t want to watch while your boss is present.
4
‘The Devil Wears Prada’ (2006)
Who can ever forget the promotional poster for the 2006 film The Devil Wears Prada? It was so simple, yet so striking, with that pitchfork acting as a heel. It just conveyed, in just one simple artwork, that some bosses are just downright evil. Speaking of evil bosses, few have ever been portrayed in such an evil light as Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), a cruel editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine who was particularly mean to Andrea “Andy” Sachs (Anne Hathaway).
The Devil Wears Prada took the “horrible boss” trope and turned the dial up to 15. Streep certainly understood the assignment here, being the demanding, cold-hearted boss that employees fear and loathe. Not only was she mean, but she was mean and funny, with some of the best one-liners of the decade. While you would most certainly want to show The Devil Wears Prada to your boss, we highly recommend that you don’t. That apartment isn’t going to pay for itself.
3
‘Compliance’ (2012)
While most of the movies here are very comfortable to watch in the absence of your boss, we’ve reached a controversial workplace movie that may be uncomfortable for you as well. Compliance, written and directed by Craig Zobel, was based off of a true story of the strip search phone call scams that targeted innocent workers in 2004. While Zobel did change the names of the folks involved, it was still one of the most uncomfortable movies anyone can watch.
The movie follows a restaurant employee, Becky (Dreama Walker), who is subjected to an unlawful and very intrusive search after a caller posing as a police officer phones her manager (Ann Dowd) that alleges money had been stolen by an employee. The performance of Dowd was very powerful, and you really were scared for Becky as she was subjected to a torturous experience by her own bosses. Apparently, Compliance was so controversial, that it caused several audience walkouts, and it even provoked shouting matches at that year’s Sundance Film Festival. That’s how controversial this movie is. So, when we say don’t watch this movie with your boss, please heed our warning.
2
‘Sorry to Bother You’ (2018)
OK, let’s lighten the mood back up a bit (for you, not your boss). One of the breakout hits of 2018, Sorry to Bother You, directed by Boots Riley in his directorial debut, is a masterclass in satirical surrealism applied to the banal existence of call centers. The movie follows Cassius “Cash” Green (LaKeith Stanfield), who gets a job at a call center to try to pay the rent. He soon discovers that his “white voice” (David Cross) helps him move up in the company; but he has to choose between chasing the paper or joining his co-worker friends, who are trying to unionize the call center.
While watching Sorry to Bother You, you can clearly see that Stanfield is in his element in this surreal, absurdist world, and the third act twist that the movie takes, going from a surreal black comic into full-blown sci-fi body horror, was a stroke of genius. Sorry to Bother You is a movie that you wouldn’t want to watch with your boss, especially if you don’t want them to grow suspicious of your work ethic.
1
‘Horrible Bosses’ (2011)
We’ve all had terrible bosses in our work careers, but most of us haven’t had a manager that was so bad that we actually thought about “whacking” them. Well, that was the scenario that Nick Hendricks (Jason Bateman), Dale Arbus (Charlie Day), and Kurt Buckman (Jason Sudeikis) found themselves in the hilarious 2011 comedy Horrible Bosses.
We see their bosses, who are comically terrible, being extremely cruel to our three protagonists, and the three have reached their limit, devising a scheme to rid their bosses of their lives for good. Obviously, things would go hilariously badly for the three, but if you have a terrible boss, this is definitely a movie that we do not recommend watching with them under any circumstances.
Source link
