If there is any movie that more succinctly epitomizes the life of an office worker in Midtown than Working Girl or 9 to 5, it’s Baby Boom. Starring Diane Keaton as a big-time managing consultant obsessed with living up to her nickname, Tiger Lady, the plot emphasizes the incongruous notion that a person–especially a woman–must choose between a personal life and a career.
This absurd concept, which only seems to exist in the United States, is stressed by J.C. being gradually eked out of her position after she inherits the baby of a distant relative that she can’t bring herself to give up for adoption. Surrendering to her fate once her flunky, Ken Arrenberg (James Spader, who is only slightly less of a douche than Steff in this role), weasels his way onto a major account, J.C. excuses herself from the game.
Even though she is initially distraught from her semi self-imposed extrication from Midtown, she eventually comes to terms with the meaninglessness of a corporate existence and, by the end she asserts, “I just think the rat race is gonna have to survive with one less rat.” We should all take a page from this epiphany, because the only rat worth being in this life is a pizza rat.