# What is the best movie about your profession? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2002, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787 "2002-12-24T23:51:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787/62 "2002-12-28T20:14:43Z")
My apologies, Sampiro. Here is the imdb page on _Four Rooms_ [http://us.imdb.com/Details?0113101](http://us.imdb.com/Details?0113101) I know it’s out on VHS and I believe it’s out on DVD. Tim Roth’s character is billed as “Ted the bellhop”, but he spends most of the movie doing front desk work. (No mention of the night audit. Oh, well, maybe some other movie.) He is all alone, taking care of the hotel, on New Year’s Eve, dealing with drunks, unattended children, betrayed spouses, etc. The scenes are somewhat exaggerated, but the barely-controlled-chaos certainly feels real. The movie is a little too slow-paced in some spots, but the ending makes it all worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Stoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stoid/32/272_2.png) [@Stoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stoid)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787/63 "2002-12-28T20:37:57Z")
Boogie Nights. I love that movie. But I had to see it 3 times before I realized it. The DVD is amazing. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f05b48/32.png) [@The\_Bad\_Astronomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Bad_Astronomer)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787/64 "2002-12-29T20:57:40Z")
Hey, folks: do us all a favor and state your profession when you post in this thread! I’m trying to figure out what **AgentofEvil** does that fits “Donnie Darko”. Evil-bunny-suit-maker? Crazed elderly lady? Jet engine mechanic? Wormhole repairman? ---
**Author:** ![LoN](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cab0a1/32.png) [@LoN](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LoN)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787/65 "2002-12-29T23:13:13Z")
I’m a peniless, hopelessly romantic writer named Christian. So i’d say **Moulin Rouge** , for depicting the way I sometimes wish my life was… **The Wonder Years** got growing up right, so even though i’m a generation too late, I relate completly. Buffy’s also on the mark sometimes (minus the demon thing). ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2002, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787/66 "2002-12-29T23:17:57Z")
I’m not a screenwriter, but **Adaptation** puts the writer’s life on screen better than any other film. It’s not about somebody sitting at the keyboard, it’s about somebody _not_ sitting at the keyboard: the sense of utter futility, failure and self loathing you get when nothing is coming, your brain shuts down, and everyone around you appears sane and happy. The one good thing about the movie is that the experience depicted is so insanely awful that it might actually keep somebody from even considering becoming a writer, to their great and everlasting psychic relief. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787/67 "2002-12-30T19:39:12Z")
I’m an archaeologist so, obviously, the **Indiana Jones** trilogy is a fair representation of my working life. Just replace the Nazis with secret Aztec warrior sects, the Holy Grail/Arc of the Covenant with Cibola, and his old .38 with a 9mm Baretta and you have the last job I was on. Seriously, an accurate movie about archaeology would not produce quite the spike in Anthropology majors that Mr. Jones and company does. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/13edae/32.png) [@Dewey\_Cheatem\_Undhow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Cheatem_Undhow)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787/68 "2002-12-30T20:08:55Z")
I’m a lawyer, so you’d think there would be a wealth of films from which to choose for my profession. And there are, if you’re a litigator – which I’m not. The only time I’ve seen the inside of a courtroom was on the day I was sworn into the bar. And transactional legal work isn’t quite as sexy from a storytelling point of view as courtroom drama. So in most films, we’re off screen. We’re the guys the Gordon Gekko character is referring to when he says “I’ll have the lawyers draw up papers and send them over.” I can only think of two films depicting transactional lawyers. One is _The Firm_, where Tom Cruise is structuring tax-free financing vehicles for the mob. The other is an abysmal little Danny DeVito comedy (and I’m using that term loosely) called _Other People’s Money_. DeVito is a raider threatening to take over a manufacturing company. Company’s owner has a daughter, a corporate lawyer, who tries to stop him. I’ve never seen the thing all the way through (it is really, really bad), but she does talk to DeVito about “standstill agreements” and “13D filings,” all of which are part of my stock in trade. I suppose I could claim the Atticus Finches of the world as my own, but trying cases in a courtroom is so far removed from what I do that it seems like another profession entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Delta-9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3be4f8/32.png) [@Delta-9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Delta-9)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2002, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787/69 "2002-12-30T21:01:16Z")
“This Is Spinal Tap” I still haven’t made the big jump into full-time musicianhood, but after 30+ years of trying, I’ve lived just about every one of those scenes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-best-movie-about-your-profession/144787.md?page=3)