When people quit a job in a movie, it is usually in a dramatic, chic, and outlandish way. When people quit a job in real life, it is typically with a letter and a lot of anxiety. So sometimes, the best way to get that thrill of burning the workplace bridge is to quit vicariously through movie characters.
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Whether it is the expression of flair inOffice Spaceor the elegant bow inThe Truman Show,quitting an awful job can be the most gratifying feeling in the world.
10’Office Space' (1999)
Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) despises his soul-destroying corporate job at Initech. During a hypnotherapy session, the therapist dies, leaving Peter in a hypnotic state. During this time, he and his friends from work develop a plan to steal money from Initech inspired by aSupermanmovie.
Everyone in the movieOffice Spacehates their job. In his blissful hypnotic state, Peter says matter-of-factly to “the Bob’s” in an interview that he simply does not care about his job and only works hard enough not to be fired. However, the best quitting scene is whenJennifer Aniston’s character Joanna, a waitress at a restaurant that demands that their servers sport tacky buttons as “flair,” delivers her own flair to her boss on her way out the door.
9’Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
At thebeginning of the new year, Bridget Jones(Renée Zellweger) inBridget Jones’s Diarymakes several resolutions, including taking control of her life and keeping a diary. Being in her thirties, single, and worried about her weight, Jones is determined to improve herself and find love in a year. Unfortunately, most of that plan revolves around her boss, Daniel Cleaver (Hugh Grant).
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Even before her affair with Cleaver, Jones' job was horrible. Cleaver was sleazy and shady then- and got much worse when she tried to move on to a better job. Watching Jones stroll into the office with all her woman empowerment and inform her rotten boss, “…. I’d rather have a job wiping Saddam Hussein’s ass…” than work for you is truly priceless.
8’Half Baked' (1998)
Four friends live together and enjoy nothing more than getting stoned. When they send one friend, Kenny (Harland Williams), on a munchie run, he inadvertently gets arrested. The remaining friends must then find a way to raise bail. So they decide to sell pot swiped from the pharmaceutical lab, where one of the friends, Thurgood Jenkins (Dave Chappelle), works as a janitor.
Anothergroup member inHalf Bakedis Scarface (Guillermo Díaz). He has a gig at a fast-food restaurant and ultimately reaches his breaking point. It is a short but absolutely hilarious scene. It is, frankly, the only way to resign from a hated job. He seizes the microphone and communicates what every person who wants to quit a job has always yearned to say.
7’Network' (1976)
Veteran news anchor Howard Beale (Peter Finch) finds out he is being fired and announces on a live broadcast that he will commit suicide during the next show. This statement increases ratings, and TV producer Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway) creates programming that matches that same absurdity.
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While Beale does not actually quit his news anchor job in theNetwork, his rant is among one of the most well-known and quoted speeches in any film. He riles up and infuriates his viewers with criticisms about inflation and high unemployment and instructs them to holler from their windows, “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore.”
6’Jerry Maguire' (1996)
Tom Cruiseplays ashrewd sports agent namedJerry Maguirein the movie of the same name. When a hurt player’s son triggers a crisis of conscience, Maguire composes a sincere but ill-timed company-wide message that immediately gets him fired. Maguire creates his own management firm with one client and one employee.
No one understands quite how to make a spectacle of themselves as well as Cruise does. And yes, he was technically fired and didn’t quit, but he made sure to leave his mark on the way out. The exit scene is agonizing to watch as the level of mortification felt for Maguire is overloaded. Still, when Dorothy Boyd (Zellweger)–and the office goldfish join him in the elevator, the audience’s reassurance is palatable.
5‘Reality Bites’ (1994)
College graduate Lelaina Pierce (Winona Ryder) films a documentary about herself, her friends, and their attempts to start new lives. The film also features friends of Lelaina; Vickie (Janeane Garofalo), yuppie Michael (Ben Stiller), and Troy (EthanHawke).
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Lelaina goes from being valedictorian in college to a production assistant to a crude, despicable, and offensive TV host, Grant Gubler (John Mahoney). Gubler’s continuous deeming and overt machismo is why the audience receives so much pleasure from how Lelaina quits. Instead of just leaving a two-week notice, she replaces Gubler’s cue cards so that Gubler ends up saying completely unacceptable things on air.
4’The Devil Wears Prada' (2006)
When Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway), a hopeful journalist, secures a job at the famous Runway magazine, she believes her dreams are beginning to come true. However, she soon realizes that her job as the assistant to editor Miranda Priestly (MerylStreep) is more challenging than she thought it would be.
The Devil Wears Pradadelivers to viewers a boss that makes most of their bosses look tame in comparison. And while Priestly repeatedly puts Sachs through the wringer and makes the position a living hell for her, Sachs gets into the groove. She persists in climbing the ladder and ultimately lands her dream job. The cathartic moment when she ditches her cell phone into a fountain in Paris and just walks away is sheer perfection.
3’Working Girl' (1988)
Working Girldivulges the story of receptionist Tess McGill (Melanie Griffith) andher shifty boss, Katharine Parker(SigourneyWeaver). When McGill offers Parker a significant business lead, Parker steals the idea. When Parker ends up in the hospital, McGill resolves to get revenge.
Parker is a wretched, terrible, and condescending boss who has no problem forcing another person out of the way to earn praise. McGill is a tremendous hustler who knows how to fight for herself. She refuses to compromise herself for success. Her commitment to herself and her standards shines when she rejects working for Parker anymore.
2’American Beauty' (1999)
In the critically acclaimed movieAmerican Beauty, Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey) loathes his job, is miserable in his marriage, and resolves to take control of his life. As Burnham’s life shifts, his wife and daughter also experience transformations that drastically impact their family.
When Burnham learns he will be laid off, he handles it just like any employee would; he blackmails his boss into giving him a ludicrous severance package worth $60,000. He politely hands his boss a self-evaluation that documents his indifference and disregard for his job and then takes the blackmail money with a smile.
1’The Truman Show' (1998)
Truman Burbank (Jim Carrey) doesn’t know it, but he is the star of a live TV broadcast called “The Truman Show.” Everything in Turman’s life is fake, manufactured, and staged. However, Truman gradually uncovers the truth and must choose whether to stay where he is or make a change.
Even though Truman never actually accepted the job as a reality TV star, he quits it with incredible style. Like the true TV idol he is, he battles a horrific storm, mounts a secret staircase, faces the camera, and takes a final graceful bow.
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