Temps (1999)

Slice-of-life comedic film about the "other side of Generations X & Y" - the non-Slackers (or people who work) - five friends from college, now in their late 20s, and their different attitudes towards their work and their personal lives at points of transition in their lives, both personally and professionally. Some are temps, some aren't, but they're all dealing with a workplace impelled by turnover and increasing corporate hegemony. Raised in a basically privileged world of middle-class America - and always told they could do and be anything - these characters are challenged both by having so many options, and by their quests for perfection. This generation is the first one that cannot live better than its parents: a job is no longer a life-long career choice. In today's world that pressures workers to sacrifice their personal lives for "success," the five learn that, although life is full of compromises, they can find fulfillment. ALLY works as a "long-term temp" to insure time for making her film. As film is the modern medium for an artist's coming-of-age story, Ally represents the post-baby-boom generation's Everywoman - someone struggling to express herself creatively through work she loves. Ally's boyfriend, BEN, is a consultant who loves his job. He wants to settle down; but Ally doesn't, as she resists his pressure on her to "get a real job." While he loves her freewheeling creativity, Ben worries he will never achieve a life of stability with her, and so he sets an ultimatum: three months for Ally to decide what matters most to her - settling down with him or continuing her life of working temp jobs to pay the bills. High-spirited and unconventional, JANE wants a job free from "hypocrisy." She finds progressively wacky employment - gynecological model, stripper, etc. - in her search for "the Right Job." GEORGIA is a computer software designer who dreams of creating an interactive encyclopedia. When her boss has other ideas for her product, she must face the choice between professional advancement and personal ideals. JONAH has come out to his friends and family, but has not yet become comfortable with the idea of having a steady boyfriend. He has recently quit his job as a lawyer to write the great American Novel. Not meant to be an artist, however, and continually fired from temp jobs, he sinks into lethargy and aimlessness until he can no longer afford his apartment and must return home to live with his parents. Explors the conflicting pressures of professional and personal choices that are a part of the new American workplace.