Why more films are not set in the office environment, where most human beings spend the bulk of their waking hours, is a cinematic puzzle. Seemingly serene and stifling on the surface, the carpeted walls and halls of the modern-day company are fraught with more romantic passion, political intrigue, and sheer comic possibility than is contained in the greatest works of Shakespeare. A handful of films are baffling Hollywood's marketing strategists in the late 20th century by bravely attempting to limn the cubicle set, ending up in the "underrated gem" file. Among them are Office Space (1999) and this little-seen treasure of a film, the writing and directing debut of Jill Sprecher (who penned the script with her sister Karen Sprecher). Perfectly capturing the spirit-murdering boredom of life at the bottom rung of the corporate food chain as well as the bizarre, niggling pettiness (fueled by raw, naked fear) of those higher up the ladder, Clockwatchers (1997) is sad, funny, and sharp as a box of requisitioned office tacks. Each of the four female leads is a standout, particularly independent film staple Parker Posey in the most complicated and least typified role. The real star of the Sprechers' film, however, is their script, clearly designed by a pair of siblings who have toiled in the wasteland of rolling chairs and coffee breaks and emerged to tell about it with sheer honesty. Maybe such "office films" aren't hits because they're just too painfully familiar, but art doesn't exist to reassure, and for a film as deceptively entertaining as it is, Clockwatchers asks some painful questions about the way people work at life and live at work.