Film

Clockwise

Name: Clockwise
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1986
Cast: John Cleese, Penelope Wilton, Alison Steadman, Stephen Moore, Joan Hickson

Comedy
Light-hearted

A headmaster so obsessed with punctuality and order that he misses his train anyway, then commandeers a student's car to chase a conference deadline. What follows is a snowballing catastrophe of misunderstandings, traffic, and the universe conspiring against a man whose rigidity makes everything worse. It's Ealing comedy DNA filtered through 1980s British neurosis: funny because the protagonist's own nature is the real antagonist.

TMDb rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a fussy man's escalating bad day played straight, where the comedy comes from rigid routine colliding with ordinary chaos, and you enjoy Cleese's precise physical timing.

Skip it if you want fast, gag-per-minute farce; this is a slow build of small humiliations, and its laughs depend on patience with a fairly unlikeable protagonist.

What it asks of you: Ninety-six minutes that stay mostly inside one stubborn man's head, asking you to notice small details of routine rather than wait for big set pieces.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

A Fish Called Wanda1988

Another ensemble comedy about chaos, miscommunication and people talking past each other. It has the same anarchic energy and doesn't shy away from characters being genuinely unlikeable underneath the laughs.

But Less sympathetic to its protagonist than Clockwise, and the tone lurches between slapstick and something darker. Not everyone finds that balance funny.

Withnail & I1987

Two British men pursuing something just out of reach with increasing desperation, accompanied by perfect comic timing and dialogue that rewards close listening. The fatalism and class anxiety are weirdly similar.

But It's deliberately sluggish and melancholic underneath the gags. The humour is dry to the point of invisibility if you're not tuned to its frequency.

Brazil1985

Terry Gilliam's vision of a world where systems and bureaucracy crush the individual. Like Clockwise, it's a comedy powered by one man's collision with an indifferent machine, but much weirder and more ambitious.

But It's visually baroque and narratively convoluted. The humour is often buried under production design, and it demands more patience than Clockwise asks for.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Clockwise

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Eolomea1972

Both are structured as journeys where the protagonist's personality is the real obstacle. Both suggest that wanting something badly enough can be the surest way to miss it.

A Yugoslav science fiction film where an astronaut's obsession with reaching a goal—in this case, the horizon—becomes an existential metaphor. It's visually stunning, hypnotic, and shares Clockwise's DNA: a man undone by his own nature.

But It's slow, abstract, and made in another language in a different era. It will feel alien if you want something recognisably narrative, and it asks patience Clockwise doesn't.

The Ladykillers1955

A Ealing classic about a plan that unravels because the characters can't control the variables around them. Tightly constructed comedy where getting what you want is the problem, not the solution.

But Black and white, slower paced, and the humour belongs to the 1950s. If you want something that moves, this isn't it.

Kind Hearts and Coronets1949

Another Ealing masterpiece where a plan to improve one's circumstances spirals into disaster. Alec Guinness playing eight roles shouldn't work but does, and the social satire still bites.

But It's a murder plot, so the comedy has a corpse at its heart. Some find that harder to laugh at than pure chaos.

The Pink Panther1963

Peter Sellers as a man whose every attempt at competence cascades into farce. The physical comedy is meticulous and the character's obliviousness mirrors Stimpson's inability to see his own role in his downfall.

But The humour relies heavily on slapstick and accents. If you prefer wit to pratfalls, it'll feel thin.

Fawlty Towers1975

John Cleese playing a man whose obsession with order creates the very chaos he's trying to prevent. The best British comedy ever made about self-sabotage, and Cleese doing similar work across a shorter format.

But Only twelve episodes exist. If you burn through them quickly, you'll want more and there isn't any. Also deeply cruel in places.

After Hours1985

Martin Scorsese directing a New York night as a series of escalating absurdities. Like Clockwise, it's about someone trying to get somewhere and every event moving them further from their goal, but it's much darker and urban.

But It's genuinely unsettling under the comedy. By the end, funny and disturbing have merged, which isn't for everyone.

Local Hero1983

Bill Forsyth's film about a man sent to Scotland to close a business deal who finds himself slowly derailed by circumstance and character. Gentle where Clockwise is frantic, but the same love of how people trip themselves up.

But It's quiet and understated. If you want something that moves with Clockwise's momentum, this will feel slack.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three1974

Both explore what happens when someone's relationship to order and control meets a situation that won't obey the rules. Same engine, entirely different genre.

Not a comedy, but a thriller built on the same principle: a man bound by rules and order (a subway dispatcher) forced into chaos. Robert Shaw's criminals vs. Walter Matthau's bureaucrat, both trapped by their nature. Tense, smart, surprisingly moving.

But It's a hostage movie with real stakes. The tone is serious; if you want laughs, you won't find them, and the moral weight might feel heavy after Clockwise's lightness.

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three poster

The Quiet Earth1985

Both feature protagonists whose compulsive need for order blinds them to reality. Both suggest that rigidity, not flexibility, is what leads to catastrophe.

A New Zealand post-apocalypse film where a man obsessed with routine and logic tries to impose order on a world where everything has broken. Deadpan, strange, and unexpectedly moving. Shares Clockwise's dark comedy undertone about rigidity and control.

But It's genuinely bleak and contemplative, with the comedy emerging from despair rather than slapstick. The ending is ambiguous and won't satisfy if you want resolution.