Film
Nine to Five
Nine to Five is a fizzy revenge comedy with genuine teeth under its wig-and-shoulder-pads surface: three underestimated women scheme against the sexist, credit-stealing boss who makes their office a small hell. Fonda, Tomlin and Parton (in her film debut) have riotous, easy chemistry, and Parton's title song alone earns the ticket price. Broad, silly, sharper than it looks.
If you liked this
Working Girl1988
Melanie Griffith clatters through 80s Wall Street in shoulder pads and ambition, outsmarting men who underestimate her, with Sigourney Weaver as the boss you love to hate. Same corporate fury, same era, more romance.
But The love-story subplot softens the satire, tangling its office feminism up with a fairly conventional romantic arc.

Erin Brockovich2000
Julia Roberts plays a foul-mouthed, underqualified paralegal who out-hustles an entire legal system and every man who dismisses her on sight — the same underestimated-woman satisfaction, played straight instead of for laughs.
But It's a drama first and a comedy a distant second, trading giddy revenge-fantasy fun for real-world gravity.

The First Wives Club1996
Three wronged women team up for petty, glorious revenge on the men who wronged them, with Goldie Hawn, Bette Midler and Diane Keaton clearly having the time of their lives.
But Leans hard into farce and montage, so the sharper class and gender commentary gets a little buried under the gags.

The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
9to5: The Story of a Movement2020
This is the real labor organization Jane Fonda helped found, whose story and title the film lifted wholesale — the true history behind the joke.
Turns out the fantasy of secretaries seizing power wasn't just a fantasy — this documentary tells the real history of the women's clerical union that gave the film its name and its outrage.
But No stars, no gags, no song — just archival footage and interviews, at a much slower, more sobering pace than the film that borrowed its name.

More like this (8)
Legally Blonde2001
Elle Woods gets written off as a bimbo by every gatekeeper she meets and wins anyway, using exactly what they mock her for — pure underdog joy with a killer soundtrack.
But Gentler and glossier than 9 to 5's workplace rage — there's no boss to depose, just prejudice to disprove.

The Devil Wears Prada2006
A glossier, modern spin on office survival, with Meryl Streep as a boss so magnetic you half side with her — proof the tyrant-boss comedy never really went away.
But The tyranny here is psychological rather than the cartoonish sexism of 9 to 5, so the catharsis lands very differently.

Steel Magnolias1989
Dolly Parton reunites with an all-female ensemble for something warmer and sadder — small-town Southern women leaning on each other through gossip and grief, proof she's just as good outside comedy.
But There's no boss to topple here — it's a hangout drama about friendship and loss, not workplace revenge.

Hidden Figures2016
Three Black women out-math and outwork the sexist, segregated NASA of the early 60s — the same prove-them-wrong pleasure, with history's stakes raised much higher.
But Earnest and inspirational rather than farcical — don't expect the loopy fantasy-revenge sequences.

Bombshell2019
A starrier, darker, real-world version of office sexism at Fox News, with Charlize Theron and Nicole Kidman playing women who finally say enough — fewer laughs, sharper anger.
But Considerably grimmer and more true-to-life; the shift from farce to reckoning might not be what you're after.

Baby Boom1987
Diane Keaton's high-flying executive gets derailed by an inherited baby and has to fight the boys' club all over again — a lighter, sillier cousin from the same era.
But Broader comedy, blurrier politics — it's more about motherhood chaos than corporate injustice.

The Apartment1960
Same corporate world two decades earlier, seen from the other side — the 'good sport' woman being used rather than avenging herself.
Billy Wilder's bittersweet office comedy shows the machine 9 to 5 later rebels against, decades earlier, in exquisite black and white — funny, then suddenly heartbreaking.
But Melancholic where 9 to 5 is triumphant; there's no righteous comeuppance, just a quieter, sadder kind of hope.

Horrible Bosses2011no page yet
The same let's-get-rid-of-our-terrible-boss fantasy, gender-flipped and coarsened, proving the premise survives getting cruder and much less pointed.
Three guys plot to get rid of their monstrous bosses in a filthy, chaotic comedy that swaps social commentary for gleeful mayhem — same premise, dialed up to absurd.
But Trades 9 to 5's sly feminist bite for gross-out slapstick — no politics here, just revenge for revenge's sake.
People
Cast
Jane FondaJudy Bernly
Lily TomlinViolet Newstead
Dolly PartonDoralee Rhodes
Dabney ColemanFranklin M. Hart Jr.
Sterling HaydenRussell Tinsworthy
Elizabeth WilsonRoz Keith
Henry JonesMr. Hinkle
Lawrence PressmanDick Bernly
Marian MercerMissy Hart
Ren WoodsBarbara
Norma DonaldsonBetty- Roxanna Bonilla-GianniniMaria Delgado
Directing
- Gary DaiglerAssistant Director
- Colin HigginsDirector
- Marshall SchlomScript Supervisor
- Chris SoldoSecond Assistant Director
Writing
- Colin HigginsScreenplay
- Patricia ResnickScreenplay
- Patricia ResnickStory
Production
- Terry LieblingCasting
- Bruce GilbertProducer
- Richard HashimotoUnit Production Manager
Recommended by
The Devil Wears Prada, Working Girl, Erin Brockovich, Hidden Figures, The Apartment, Cat Ballou, North Country, Baby Boom, Office Space, Norma Rae, Made in Dagenham, Designing Women, The Devil Wears Prada 2, The Women, Private Benjamin, Salt of the Earth, The First Wives Club, 9to5: The Story of a Movement, On the Basis of Sex, The Other Woman