You know what the best thing about Thursday is? Knowing that tomorrow, Friday, is the last day of the work week. Well, that was the best thing before I started doing Thursday Movie Picks with the wonderful Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves. That's probably because this is fun, not work. Work is work. And our topic for this is, um, work. Well, it's actually workplace movies.
What is a workplace movie?
Wanderer didn't give us any guidelines on what qualifies. I love her for that, by the way. For me, I went with movies that have lots of scenes in a work environment and/or in which the job of the characters figures heavily into the plot. I also wanted comedies because work is best when you can have fun on the job. So, I thought hard, dug deep, aaannnddd, here's what I came up with...
Car Wash
(1976)
As if the title weren't a dead giveaway, this one is all about the goings on at a car wash. And we're not talking one of those self-serve joints, or fully automated thingamajigs. We're talking a place with plenty of colorful employees and even more colorful customers. Look for turns by arguably the two best stand-up comedians of all time: Richard Pryor and George Carlin. Throw in the underrated Franklin Ajaye for good measure. Others in the class include Antonio Fargas, Bill Duke, Garrett Morris, The Pointer Sisters, and depending on which version you watch, Danny DeVito. This is a fun romp that might not be the best movie of the 70s, but it just might be the coolest.
D.C. Cab
(1983)
Albert (Adam Baldwin) inherits the worst cab company in town from his old man and tries to turn the place around. First, he has to learn the ropes. Harold (Max Gail), who runs the place, sends him out to ride along with the various drivers who have some rather interesting personalities. One of them is Dell. No, not me, This Dell is played by Gary Busey. Others include Baba (a very young Bill Maher), Samson (Mr. T), Xavier (Paul Rodriguez), Ophelia (Marsha Warfield), and Tyrone (an electrifying Charlie Barnett). Of course, they have to fight off the competition as well as the various bad guys that pop up. It's one of the Movies I Grew Up With.
Boomerang
(1992)
Eddie Murphy stars as advertising exec/ladies man Marcus. We spend lots of time with him working on the ad campaign that may earn him a big promotion. A good deal of is down time is spent with his co-workers Tyler and Gerard (Martin Lawrence and David Alan Grier, respectively). More of his down time is spent with all the ladies of his life. However, he reaches the point where he has to choose between Jacqueline (Robin Givens), the ambitious woman up for the same promotion and Angela (Halle Berry), the sweet girl who works in the art department. If you're the type of person who skips over whatever is in parenthesis, don't laugh I know people like that, go back and read those. He's picking between Robin Givens and Halle Berry. Life is tough, ain't it?If those jobs aren't "fun" enough, I have some
Alternate Picks
The Bikini Car Wash Company
(1992)
A tough gig with a strict dress code.
Showgirls
(1995)
Elizabeth Berkley does not get saved by the bell.
The Players Club
(1998)
Because there weren't enough strippers in Showgirls. Nor Ice Cubes.
Ah.... The Bikini Car Wash Company... part of my late night films that I enjoyed watching. D.C. Cab is hilarious and fucking insane but dammit! I love it. Boomerang is underrated as I loved Eddie Murphy in that film. I also enjoyed the fact that he thinks Captain Kirk is the coolest white dude ever.
ReplyDeleteWow. Always glad to find out someone else was trolling Cinemax for boobies! And Boomerang is a very underrated rom-com.
DeleteSkinemax and Showtime showed some damn good quality softcore movies. Some of it had some good lighting and production values while gave you bits of nice sex scenes every 20 minutes. The 90s for me was that period's golden age of those kind of films. Nowadays, it's not so much. The boobs are more fake and the sex scenes run way too long and the women aren't as attractive.
DeleteAll true. No arguments from me.
DeleteCan't say I've seen any of your choices (which is a good thing, I guess), but DC Cabs sound fun as many things with Gary Busey in are fun...even if it's in a so bad it's good kinda way.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely fun...and goofy. We'll call it goofy fun.
DeleteHaven't heard of any of your picks! Might give Boomerang a go, I'm always on a lookout for an Eddie Murphy flick!
ReplyDeleteI think you'll like Boomerang. I think it is a criminally overlooked rom-com.
DeleteI haven't seen any of your picks this week, but Boomerang and D.C Cab sound like good fun. I love that Showgirls is an honorable mention. lol
ReplyDeleteThose two are good fun. Hope you give them a go. Not Showgirls...unless...ya know...you're into that sort of thing. By that sort of thing I mean hilariously bad movies, of course.
DeleteI haven't actually seen any of these, though I did see Welcome to the Basement's discussion on Car Wash (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSwbVgnYWf8).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link to that vid. I'll be checking it out when I get home tonight.
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ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear about your Showgirls experience!
DeleteI love Boomerang! Nice inclusion. Never even heard of the Cab one, and I wonder how easily I'd be able to find it...
ReplyDeleteD.C. Cab should be fairly easy to find simce it's got a pretty good cult following.
DeleteYup, Showgirls is bad, but it's, like, ultimate train wreck bad. Can't take your eyes off it.
ReplyDeleteI think the only two of yours I've seen all the way through are Car Wash and Boomerang, both enjoyable films. Oh wait I've seen Showgirls, geez that movie is trash! but a fun choice. I've seen bits and pieces of D.C. Cab but none of your other two. BCWC looks like those silly low budget grindhouse movies like Hot Dog, the Movie and Private Resort, that gave Johnny Depp his start. If you're in the right mood they can be fun.
ReplyDeleteFinally, someone has seen Car Wash! And Boomerang! Trash is just one of the many accurate adjectives for Showgirls. And BCWC is in the same weight class as those others you mentioned.
DeleteI had to stop back and mention the other film that The Bikini Car Wash Company reminded me of. I couldn't recall the name this morning for the life of me and it's been driving me crazy all day, it just came to me, The Malibu Bikini Shop! It's about two young brothers who inherit a bikini shop from their aunt and have to find some crazy way to save it from going out of business! It's just as dumb as it sounds and used to play on late night TV all the time but I had to get it off my chest, it even fits the theme!
DeleteSadly, I've seen The Malibu Bikini Shop...several times...don't judge.
DeleteWho am I too judge? In those days before thousand of channel choices I watched it at least a couple of times when there was nothing else on too!!
DeleteDC Cab looks amazing. I am SHOCKED that Showgirls never occurred to me - it's a perfect workplace movie: just as bright, sleazy, and crowded-yet-empty as Vegas. And also kind of awesome.
ReplyDeleteYes...and yes!!!
DeleteI haven't seen any of these, but they look like great picks. The cover of Bikini Car Wash cracks me up.
ReplyDeleteOh, that cover is a doozy, ain't it?
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