Review of Fired! (2007) by Michael M — 08 Jul 2007

When actress Annabelle Gurwitch was fired from a play by Woody Allen she wondered how she would cope with being fired by a cultural icon. Turning to friends in show business she was assured she was n..

.( read more )ot alone. Once the subject had been broached, everyone she knew from her rabbi and gynecologists to her colleagues had advice and their own accounts of getting the boot to offer. This set her off on a journey to answer the question: was being fired going to be the best thing or worst thing that had happened in her working life.

Annabelle turned the wit and trauma of the ?fired? experience into a book, which was recently published by Simon and Schuster. The book has received rave reviews and been featured on The Today Show, People Magazine, InStyle, CNN, NPR?s Talk of the Nation and widely praised.

The Washington Post called it, ?a caustic but merry compendium of failure.? The New York Times said, ?Fired proves that sometimes losing well is the best revenge.? The book has been number #1 on the New York Post Hot List and featured in Oprah?s Anticipation list.

As she was writing the book she became interested in the downsizings occurring all over the country. She began researching and traveling the country, interviewing people as diverse as Tim Allen, Sarah Silverman, Jeff Garlin, Anne Meara, David Cross and GM workers in Lansing, Michigan whose perspectives ranged from the tragically comedic to proving that old adage when one door closes another door opens, to the just plain tragic.

Annabelle attended job fairs, received ?outplacement services?, interviewed human resource directors, downsizers, and the downsized who were seeking new jobs. Her journey took her to the office of Robert Reich, former Labor Secretary under President Clinton, and to economist Ben Stein who spoke to her of the growing insecurity the American worker faces today and the incredible inequities being created through corporate and government policies affecting every working or as the case may be, not working American.

Fired! reminds us that all great success come out of failure and being fired can be a part of the growth process, that humor helps, and that if you?re employed in America today your firing may be both the best and the worst thing that can happen in your working life.

Directed by: Chris Bradley, Kyle Labrach.