Film

Support the Girls

Name: Support the Girls
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Released: 2018
Cast: Regina Hall, Haley Lu Richardson, Shayna McHayle, James Le Gros, Dylan Gelula

Workplace drama

Andrew Bujalski's day-in-the-life comedy follows Lisa Conroy, the endlessly patient manager of a 'breastaurant' called Double Whammies, as small disasters pile up on what should be an ordinary shift. It's funny and tender in equal measure — a workplace movie that takes its underpaid, underestimated characters completely seriously. Slow-burn rather than punchline-driven, it rewards patience with real warmth, and it's for anyone tired of films that look down on service work.

TMDb rating

3.0

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like workplace comedy that stays close to working people's exhaustion and loyalty, where the jokes come out of real friction and the warmth feels earned rather than sugary.

Skip it if you want a plot that builds toward a big payoff; this one wanders through a single punishing shift, and its episodes of chaos can feel more like accumulation than momentum.

What it asks of you: Ninety-one minutes spent inside one long day, with a steady, observant pace and a mix of bruised humor and quiet worry. It rewards patience more than it rushes you toward anything.

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

If you liked this

Hustlers2019

Another crackling ensemble about women turning a demeaning service job into something they control, with the same mix of humour and heartbreak underneath the hustle.

But It's flashier and more crime-thriller than character study — the stakes escalate far beyond a bad shift at a bar.

Girls Trip2017

Regina Hall again, but let loose — riotous, filthy, and completely committed to female friendship as the real plot. A good chaser if you want more of her energy without the melancholy.

But Broad studio comedy with none of Support the Girls' quiet ache — pure release, not reflection.

The Florida Project2017

Same sun-bleached American fringe, same refusal to look down on people scraping by near a highway of tourist traps and cheap motels. Warm, funny, and devastating in equal measure.

But Told through a child's eyes and unsentimental to the point of bleakness — no tidy resolution here.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Support the Girls

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Apartment1960

Both films find real tenderness inside deeply exploitative workplaces, and both trust a quietly decent lead to hold a bruised ensemble together for one very long day.

Billy Wilder's bittersweet office comedy proves this genre existed long before mumblecore found it — a decent man's small kindnesses set against a corporate machine that chews people up with a smile.

But Black-and-white, decades removed, and its central romance carries a moral weight some modern viewers might find quaint or uneasy today.

Waitress2007

A diner instead of a sports bar, but the same recipe: an overworked woman holding a found family together while her own life quietly falls apart in the background.

But Sweeter and more whimsical, with musical-numbers energy a world away from Bujalski's dry realism.

Clockwatchers1997

A forgotten gem about temp workers watching the clock and each other, exposing office hierarchy with the same dry, empathetic eye for the small humiliations of low-status work.

But Slower and colder — its satire has real teeth, with less of the outright affection Bujalski has for his characters.

Empire Records1995

All the chaos of one long shift, a ragtag staff, and a boss trying to hold the whole enterprise together against outside forces threatening to shut it down.

But Younger, glossier, and nostalgic '90s mall culture rather than grounded realism — pure hangout comedy.

Nine to Five1980

The original workplace revenge fantasy — three women fighting back against a boss and a system that doesn't respect them, with big laughs and real anger underneath.

But Broader and more farcical, tipping into wish-fulfilment where Support the Girls stays grounded in the mundane.

Set It Up2018

Lighter fare about overworked underlings scheming to survive brutal bosses, with genuine affection for the drudgery of service and support jobs.

But Rom-com plotting takes over in the second half — there's little of the social observation you came for.

Waiting...2005

The gross-out cousin: a single restaurant shift, every kind of coworker, and comic chaos behind a counter customers never see.

But Crude and juvenile where Bujalski is tender — enjoy it as pure release, not as a spiritual sequel.

Superstore2015

Same structural DNA — an ensemble of underpaid retail workers, a manager trying to shield her staff from a company that doesn't care, told through the small indignities of one shift after another.

If you wanted more of Double Whammies' daily grind, this is six seasons of retail-store camaraderie, corporate absurdity, and coworkers who become family despite themselves — laugh-out-loud and surprisingly political.

But Multi-camera sitcom rhythms and broader jokes take a while to settle into, and it rarely risks the melancholy Bujalski leans into.

American Factory2019

Strip away the comedy and you're left with the same real subject: ordinary workers trying to hold onto dignity and each other inside a system built to use them up.

This Oscar-winning documentary follows real factory workers navigating a new corporate owner, asking the same quiet question Support the Girls does: what does dignity cost when your livelihood depends on someone else's bottom line?

But No jokes to cushion it — unvarnished nonfiction about layoffs and cultural clashes, heavier and slower than anything in the fiction feature.