Gary Cole as Bill Lumbergh in ‘Office Space.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Labor Day is a federal holiday in the United States celebrated on the first Monday in September to honor and recognize the American labor movement and the works and contributions of laborers to the development and achievements of the United States.
But its also a three-day weekend, and many movie fans spend the last official weekend of summer relaxing and watching a movie!
In honor of Labor Day, Moviefone has assembled a list of the 30 best movies ever made set in the workplace.
Without further ado, let’s begin!
(L to R) Robert De Niro as Ben and Anne Hathaway as Jules in 2015’s ‘The Intern.’ Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
70-year-old widower Ben Whittaker (Robert De Niro) has discovered that retirement isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Seizing an opportunity to get back in the game, he becomes a senior intern at an online fashion site, founded and run by Jules Ostin (Anne Hathaway).
“Experience never gets old.”
Release Date: Sep 25, 2015
Run Time: 2 hr 1 min
Budget: $35,000,000
Two recently laid-off men in their 40s (Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson) try to make it as interns at a successful Internet company where their managers are in their 20s.
“Hiring them was a brilliant mistake.”
Release Date: Jun 7, 2013
Run Time: 1 hr 59 min
Budget: $58,000,000
The owner of a factory that produces flavor extracts, Joel Reynold (Jason Bateman) seems to have it all, but really doesn’t. What’s missing is sexual attention from his wife, Suzie (Kristen Wiig). Joel hatches a convoluted plan to get Suzie to cheat on him, thereby clearing the way for Joel to have an affair with Cindy (Mila Kunis), an employee. But what Joel doesn’t know is that Cindy is a sociopathic con artist, and a freak workplace accident clears the way for her to ruin Joel forever.
“Sticking it to the man has never looked so good.”
Release Date: Sep 3, 2009
Run Time: 1 hr 32 min
Budget: $8,000,000
A young woman (Maggie Gyllenhaal), recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer (James Spader), where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.
Release Date: Oct 11, 2002
Run Time: 1 hr 51 min
Budget: $4,000,000
A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States — Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman (Charlize Theron) who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.
“All she wanted was to make a living… Instead she made history.”
Release Date: Sep 12, 2005
Run Time: 2 hr 6 min
Budget: $35,000,000
Christian Bale in ‘Newsies’. Photo: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution.
“A Thousand Voices. A Single Dream.”
Release Date: Apr 10, 1992
Run Time: 2 hr 1 min
Budget: $15,000,000
When she learns she’s in danger of losing her visa status and being deported, overbearing book editor Margaret Tate (Sandra Bullock) forces her put-upon assistant, Andrew Paxton (Ryan Reynolds), to marry her.
“Here comes the bribe…”
Release Date: Jun 19, 2009
Run Time: 1 hr 48 min
Budget: $40,000,000
23. ‘Clerks‘ (1994)
Convenience and video store clerks Dante (Brian O’Halloran) and Randal (Jeff Anderson) are sharp-witted, potty-mouthed and bored out of their minds. So in between needling customers, the counter jockeys play hockey on the roof, visit a funeral home and deal with their love lives.
“Just because they serve you doesn’t mean they like you.”
Release Date: Oct 19, 1994
Run Time: 1 hr 32 min
Budget: $27,575
Henry Hackett (Michael Keaton) is the workaholic editor of a New York City tabloid. He loves his job, but the long hours and low pay are leading to discontent. Also, publisher Bernie White (Robert Duvall) faces financial straits, and has hatchet-man Alicia Clark (Glenn Close)—Henry’s nemesis—impose unpopular cutbacks.
“A behind-the-lines look at work, marriage and other forms of combat.”
Release Date: Mar 18, 1994
Run Time: 1 hr 52 min
Budget: $6,000,000
When a western Pennsylvania auto plant is acquired by a Japanese company, brokering auto worker Hunt Stevenson (Michael Keaton) faces the tricky challenge of mediating the assimilation of two clashing corporate cultures. At one end is the Japanese plant manager (Gedde Watanabe) and the sycophant who is angling for his position. At the other, a number of disgruntled long-time union members (George Wendt and John Turturro) struggle with the new exigencies of Japanese quality control.
“When East meets West, the laughs shift into high gear!”
Release Date: Mar 14, 1986
Run Time: 1 hr 51 min
Budget: $13,000,000
Sally Field as Norma Rae Webster in ‘Norma Rae.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Norma Rae (Sally Field) is a southern textile worker employed in a factory with intolerable working conditions. This concern about the situation gives her the gumption to be the key associate to a visiting labor union organizer (Ron Leibman). Together, they undertake the difficult, and possibly dangerous, struggle to unionize her factory.
“The story of a woman with the courage to risk everything for what she believes is right.”
Release Date: Mar 2, 1979
Run Time: 1 hr 50 min
Budget: $4,500,000
The life of super-yuppie J.C. (Diane Keaton) is thrown into turmoil when she inherits a baby from a distant relative.
“JC Wiatt, corporate powerhouse, just received an inheritance. And it sucks.”
Release Date: Oct 30, 1987
Run Time: 1 hr 50 min
Budget: $15,000,000
“Ever since two enterprising young men turned the City Morgue into a swinging business, people have been dying to get in.”
Release Date: Jul 30, 1982
Run Time: 1 hr 46 min
Budget: $8,100,000
When Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston), CEO of the technology company Zenotek, expresses her intention to close the Chicago branch, run by her brother Clay (T.J. Miller), he and his co-workers organize a Christmas party in an effort to impress a potential client and save their jobs. But the party gets out of control…
“Party like your job depends on it”
Release Date: Dec 9, 2016
Run Time: 1 hr 45 min
Budget: $45,000,000
“The truth can be adjusted.”
Release Date: Oct 12, 2007
Run Time: 1 hr 59 min
Budget: $25,000,000
(L to R) Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephanie Hsu, Ke Huy Quan, Michelle Yeoh, and James Hong in A24’s ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once.’
Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as Daniels, the film is a hilarious and big-hearted sci-fi action adventure about an exhausted Chinese American woman (Michelle Yeoh) who can’t seem to finish her taxes.
“The universe is so much bigger than you realize.”
Release Date: Mar 25, 2022
Run Time: 2 hr 20 min
Budget: $25,000,000
New York City, 1954: Benjy Stone (Mark Linn-Baker) is the junior writer on the top rated variety/comedy show. His idol Alan Swann (Peter O’Toole), an actor with a drinking problem, is to be that week’s guest star.
“The year the dreams came true.”
Release Date: Oct 8, 1982
Run Time: 1 hr 32 min
Budget: $7,900,000
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.
“Break the story. Break the silence.”
Release Date: Nov 25, 2015
Run Time: 2 hr 9 min
Budget: $20,000,000
For Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis) and Dale (Charlie Day), the only thing that would make the daily grind more tolerable would be to grind their intolerable bosses into dust. Quitting is not an option, so, with the benefit of a few-too-many drinks and some dubious advice from a hustling ex-con (Jamie Foxx), the three friends devise a convoluted and seemingly foolproof plan to rid themselves of their respective employers… permanently.
“Ever wish your boss was dead?”
Release Date: Jul 8, 2011
Run Time: 1 hr 38 min
Budget: $35,000,000
Andy (Anne Hathaway) moves to New York to work in the fashion industry. Her boss (Meryl Streep) is extremely demanding, cruel and won’t let her succeed if she doesn’t fit into the high class elegant look of their magazine.
“Meet Andy Sachs. A million girls would kill to have her job. She’s not one of them.”
Release Date: Jun 30, 2006
Run Time: 1 hr 49 min
Budget: $35,000,000
(L to R) Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy in ‘Trading Places.’ Photo: Paramount Pictures.
A snobbish investor (Dan Aykroyd) and a wily street con-artist (Eddie Murphy) find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.
“They’re not just getting rich… They’re getting even.”
Release Date: Jun 7, 1983
Run Time: 1 hr 56 min
Budget: $15,000,000
A thriller that revolves around the key people at an investment bank over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the financial crisis. The movie stars Kevin Spacey, Paul Bettany, Jeremy Irons, Zachary Quinto, Penn Badgley, Simon Baker, Mary McDonnell, Demi Moore, and Stanley Tucci.
“Be first. Be smarter. Or cheat.”
Release Date: Oct 21, 2011
Run Time: 1 hr 48 min
Budget: $3,500,000
Corporate downsizing expert Ryan Bingham (George Clooney) spends his life in planes, airports, and hotels, but just as he’s about to reach a milestone of ten million frequent flyer miles, he meets a woman (Vera Farmiga) who causes him to rethink his transient life.
“The story of a man ready to make a connection.”
Release Date: Dec 23, 2009
Run Time: 1 hr 50 min
Budget: $25,000,000
Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) is an ambitious secretary with a unique approach for climbing the ladder to success. When her classy, but villainous boss (Sigourney Weaver) breaks a leg skiing, Tess takes over her office, her apartment and even her wardrobe. She creates a deal with a handsome investment banker (Harrison Ford) that will either take her to the top, or finish her off for good.
“For anyone who’s ever won. For anyone who’s ever lost. And for everyone who’s still in there trying.”
Release Date: Dec 20, 1988
Run Time: 1 hr 54 min
Budget: $28,000,000
The tale of a new breed of cultural insurgent: a punk genius (Jesse Eisenberg) who sparked a revolution and changed the face of human interaction for a generation, and perhaps forever.
“You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”
Release Date: Oct 1, 2010
Run Time: 2 hr 1 min
Budget: $40,000,000
(L to R) Leonardo DiCaprio is Jordan Belfort and Matthew McConaughey is Mark Hanna in “The Wolf of Wall Street,’ from Paramount Pictures and Red Granite Pictures.
A New York stockbroker (Leonardo DiCaprio) refuses to cooperate in a large securities fraud case involving corruption on Wall Street, corporate banking world and mob infiltration. Based on Jordan Belfort’s autobiography.
Release Date: Dec 25, 2013
Run Time: 3 hr
Budget: $100,000,000
When an office full of Chicago real estate salesmen is given the news that all but the top two will be fired at the end of the week, the atmosphere begins to heat up. Shelley Levene (Jack Lemmon), who has a sick daughter, does everything in his power to get better leads from his boss, John Williamson (Kevin Spacey), but to no avail. When his coworker Dave Moss (Ed Harris) comes up with a plan to steal the leads, things get complicated for the tough-talking salesmen. The cast also includes Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Alan Arkin and Jonathan Pryce.
“A story for everyone who works for a living.”
Release Date: Sep 28, 1992
Run Time: 1 hr 40 min
Budget: $12,500,000
When veteran anchorman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) is forced to retire his 25-year post because of his age, he announces to viewers that he will kill himself during his farewell broadcast. Network executives (Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Robert Duvall, and Ned Beatty) rethink their decision when his fanatical tirade results in a spike in ratings.
“Television will never be the same.”
Release Date: Nov 14, 1976
Run Time: 2 hr 2 min
Budget: $3,800,000
A depressed white-collar worker (Ron Livingston) tries hypnotherapy, only to find himself in a perpetual state of devil-may-care bliss that prompts him to start living by his own rules, and hatch a hapless attempt to embezzle money from his soul-killing employers. The cast also includes Jennifer Aniston, Stephen Root, Gary Cole, and John C. McGinley.
Release Date: Feb 19, 1999
Run Time: 1 hr 30 min
Budget: $10,000,000
(L to R) Lily Tomlin, Dolly Parton and Jane Fonda in ‘Nine to Five.’ Photo: 20th Century Fox.
Frank Hart (Dabney Coleman) is a pig. He takes advantage in the grossest manner of the women who work with him. When his three assistants (Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton) manage to trap him in his own house they assume control of his department and productivity leaps, but just how long can they keep Hart tied up?
“Getting even is a full-time job.”
Release Date: Dec 19, 1980
Run Time: 1 hr 50 min
Budget: $10,000,000
