Don't Get Too Fired Up

In Woody Allen's 1989 film Crimes and Misdemeanors, Lester, the shallow television executive portrayed by Alan Alda, tells a group of sitcom writers, "Comedy is tragedy plus time." And, in Annabelle Gurwitch's new documentary Fired!, Judy Gold echoes the statement almost word for word. But while Allen used the comment to demonstrate the cliched nature of the character's existence, it's one of the deepest insights offered in Gurwitch's movie. The contrast highlights the primary weakness of Gurwitch's film, which, although charming, is about as profound as an episode of The King of Queens.

Ironically, Allen indirectly served as the catalyst for Gurwitch's cinematic endeavor. She initially became interested in the topic of job termination after she was fired from one of his plays. The firing, which is reenacted in the film with a Woody Allen impersonator, is preceded by an extremely clever opening montage that mirrors the classic beginning of Allen's Manhattan. The inclusion of this sequence, as well as several other touches that pay tribute to Allen's work, reveal to the audience that Gurwitch is good-natured and not embittered about her loss of employment.

Gurwitch includes interviews with numerous celebrity friends discussing their experiences being fired from jobs, including Tim Allen, Illeana Douglas, the insufferable Andy Dick, and, in puppet form, Tate Donovan. She also incorporates clips from her stage show Fired!, that, along with her book of the same title, preceded this film. Although the clips from the show are amusing, the frequent references to both the show and the book make the viewer wonder how many other forms of media there are into which Gurwitch intends to adapt Fired!. One may hope that she will leave the termination game and resume her acting career before the release of Fired!: The Video Game.

That being said, Gurwitch and her team, including her photographer-editor duo, Chris Bradley and Kyle LaBrache, understand the limitations of their material and consequently keep the proceedings varied and brief. While 70 minutes of Fired! is a pleasant diversion, the subject matter can barely support a work of that duration, let alone a film of average length. Still, Gurwitch makes the most of her low budget and shows a willingness to experiment, perhaps best seen in the aforementioned puppet sequence with Tate Donovan, which, incidentally, had the entire theater laughing. Mercifully, Gurwitch also restrains herself from trying to draw any deep conclusions from her somewhat frivolous exploration. She generally impresses as a filmmaker, interviewer, and actress, ultimately too winning to be canned by filmgoers despite her flaws.