`CLOCKWATCHERS' PUNCHES IN WITH REALITY OF OFFICE WORK.

Byline: Stephen Holden The New York Times

When your whole life revolves around meaningless office drudgery, molehills become mountains, petty theft looms like grand larceny and the most casual glances exchanged among co-workers can acquire a dark conspiratorial significance. This particular blend of boredom and paranoia is expertly evoked in Jill Sprecher's small, gently surreal comedy, ``Clockwatchers.''

As it follows the lives of four office temps who work side by side in the sterile cubicles of a corporate colossus called Global Credit, the movie rubs your face in the petty humiliations endured by women at the low end of the company totem pole.

``Clockwatchers'' observes this world through the eyes of Iris (Toni Collette), a shy newcomer to Global Credit who, during her first day on the job, is befriended by the flouncing, rebellious Margaret (Parker Posey), a peripatetic temp who has thought up a hundred little ways to sabotage the companies she works for. Margaret introduces Iris to her co-workers Paula (Lisa Kudrow) and Jane (Alanna Ubach), and the four become a gossipy clique of lunchtime companions and confidantes.

Each of the four has her quirks. Iris lives with a father who has high hopes for his daughter's corporate advancement. But because she has no particular ambition, Iris lies to him about sending out job applications and following up on contacts. Paula, whose hairdo changes dramatically every few days, believes she is ``special'' and fantasizes becoming a famous actress.

Jane, who is a bundle of obsessive-compulsive tics, is biding her time at Global Credit before marrying a man who lavishes her with gifts and picks her up every day in his sports car. Although Jane, with her devoted boyfriend, is supposedly the luckiest of the four, there is an ambiguous scene that suggests her Prince Charming is already fooling around behind her back.

By far the spunkiest of this group is Margaret, played by Posey with a compelling mixture of abrasive bravado and wrenching sadness. We've all known Margarets, people who are wildly overqualified for the numbing tasks they've been assigned and who self-destruct when their rage bubbles up uncontrollably.

``Clockwatchers'' gets many of the details of office life eerily right: the arrogant, smarmy male executives who affect a patronizing jocularity with secretaries whose names they can never remember; the iron-fisted boss who huffs windily about everyone in the company being a ``family''; the petty tyrant who doles out pencils as though they were gold bullion.

The story of ``Clockwatchers'' revolves around an office witch hunt after some petty thievery in which suspicion falls on the four friends. Before the mystery is solved, the women have been interrogated and set against one another, and their desks inspected by grim security guards. The investigation is conducted with a chilling politeness that underscores the fact that all four are viewed as disposable cheap labor.

As Iris, Collette displays the same gawky charm with an undercurrent of stubbornness that she brought to ``Muriel's Wedding.'' But ``Clockwatchers'' ultimately belongs to Posey. The actress whose flamboyant look-at-me attitude can be grating when not carefully reined, finds a core of tragedy in a character whose proud fighting spirit has curdled into a kind of free-floating hysteria.

THE FACTS

The film: ``Clockwatchers'' (PG-13; some strong language).

The stars: Toni Collette, Parker Posey, Lisa Kudrow and Alanna Ubach.

Behind the scenes: Directed by Jill Sprecher. Written by Jill Sprecher and Karen Sprecher. Produced by Gina Resnick. Released by BMG Independents.

Running time: One hour, 36 minutes.

Playing: Laemmle's Sunset 5, West Hollywood.

Our rating: Three Stars.

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Photo

Photo: Parker Posey, left, Alanna Ubach, Lisa Kudrow and Toni Collette are temp workers who become friends in ``Clockwatchers.''