Writer Travis Hall (Stephen Daniels) starts off his interview for a job as a security guard by remarking that he has no relevant work experience and several gaps in his resumé. He's hired on the spot. He spends his first night trying to figure out what his job actually is. Supporting him in this endeavor are a variety of deadbeat coworkers: a musician, a pseudo psychotic female punker, and an aggressive militant among them. Unfortunately they have no answers for him. Instead, they take him to a strip club for lunch, teach him how to smoke behind the building, and engage him in philosophical discussions on topics both banal -- what is it we are actually guarding? -- and esoteric (such as the vagaries of relations with the opposite sex). As the new kid on the block, Travis hears all their old stories, and takes his share of ribbing. Screenwriters Robin Goldsmith and Steve Sterling do a good job delineating this large cast of eccentric characters. For fans of workplace humor -- think Office Space -- Late Watch is manna from heaven. Though more deadpan and satirical than that film, it mines the humor out of interoffice and personal relationships in a way that indicates director Henry Miller and his two screenwriters are all too acutely acquainted with them.

Directed by

Henry Miller and Erik Moe