The Parking Lot Movie (2010) User Reviews

A funny film about America's least valued citizens (parking lot attendants) and its most valued citizens (cars)

[tharrx · 8/10 · 20 October 2010]

This is a funny, breezy look at an odd little parking lot with an odd little crew of undergrads, grad, and grad students, all biding their time while pursuing their various interests. The lot is located near the University of Virginia and right behind a stretch of bars, which guarantees plenty of obnoxious, privileged, entitled jerks who drive $100,000 cars and are outraged at the thought of paying a couple of bucks to park them.

The attendants deal with it all in a way that's quirky and funny. They're treated as the lowest of the low (some customers delight in pitching their payments on the ground; some just crash the gate) and giving out a little hostility as well.(One attendant always engages the emergency break when parking cars, ostensibly for safety but actually in hope that the driver will neglect to disengage it.)

I saw this as an episode of the PBS series Independent Lens, and it looks like it was a somewhat edited version, as it ran under an hour. Still, I can't see how another 30 minutes of these proud misfits wouldn't be welcome.

A good time, and a reminder that documentaries need not be too serious.

Gauze for the Wounds of the Working Class

[drqshadow-reviews · 8/10 · 9 August 2011]

The underlying point that this feature-length documentary really drives home seems to be that, so long as your boss and coworkers are really cool, just about any gig can be your dream job. I kept hoping we'd see more of the attendants' interactions with angry, rude or ignorant customers, just to observe the new and interesting ways the staff would find to insult them, but the non-confrontational moments were entertaining enough to pick up the slack. A fun look at an interesting group of geeky, identifiable characters who care more about the liberties granted to their lifestyle than about getting rich with a high-stress job.

A "lot" going on in this film.

[closesquarters · 8/10 · 27 January 2011]

Most of us have had unappreciated jobs... and so, can easily relate to the feelings of the attendants.

"The Parking Lot Movie" is not only a film about a parking lot, but also a metaphor to easily express the extremes of human nature towards one-another. Everyone has a dark and a good side. Funny how both faces come out in the most seemingly simplest of situations. Not only do we get to watch actual footage of these interactions, but the attendants (all well educated) explain their feelings to a fine point.

It was also interesting to watch how the attendants spent their "down time," when the parking lot was slow. Games, painting slogans on the gate arm. "Idle Hands" are the parking attendant's workshop.

Nicely done.

Not 'Just A Parking Lot'

[radioheadrcm · 9/10 · 27 January 2011]

The Parking Lot Movie covers a group of intellectual social misfits that love the comfort of working in an environment that they can shape to their will, but hate dealing with the society that comes and goes through their business. Watching their interactions with the college surroundings is classic. On one side, you have parking lot employee with a PhD in anthropology, passionately working for minimum wage, and on the other is a drunk sorority girl driving a luxury SUV (assumed to be paid for by her parents), and she's trying to skip out on her four dollar parking fee. Although the entire film essentially takes place in a parking lot, it manages to create quite a bit of social commentary, and really works as a fun and thought provoking film.

I picture The Parking Lot Movie working as a brilliant double bill with The Social Network. If one shows how intelligent outcasts can outclass society by working hard and becoming a powerful billionaire in just six years, the other shows how other intelligent outcasts can be just as happy removing themselves from the equation entirely, shielding themselves in apathy, and outclassing society in an entirely different way. The difference is really just between a Type A and B personalities. As the parking lot owner says: "I really like to hire Type B personalities."

Overall, the content the film ends up being much more engaging than you'd expect. The parking lot itself almost seems like a last bastion of creativity and normalcy in an invading world of mindless consumption. The employees really make it out to be an amusing struggle, and you can't help but root for them. Personally, I can't remember ever feeling closer to a group of people on film, and I'm already recommending this to like-minded thinkers.

smug twerps get treated like sh*t

[phesboy · 7/10 · 29 December 2012]

Yeah this movie was quite good fun. If you work in any service industry where people take you for granted and expect you are only there to serve them and put up with their attitude then you should watch this. It's good fun leering at a bunch of people slowly unwinding until some of them are nearly cracked up. After doing however many hours of sitting in the sun and taking sh*t off drivers all the time they basically can't let anything go. You have to admire their spirit but it's clearly doing their head in. Apart from that it likes to go on a lot about how clever they all are and what a brilliant wacky time they have. Hate to say it but the funniest bit for me was every time someone broke their barrier and you just heard that SNAP from round the corner and off they went racing to get their $35 off whatever drunk jock was trying to shag it or whatever.

All a bit pleased with themselves really. Very entertaining. SNAP!

They rant for us

[TheGOLDENWALRUS · 8/10 · 27 January 2011]

I've never worked at a parking lot before but I've had a very similar job at a private owned video store arguing with customers over late fees etc. I'd sit there all day doing nothing - sometimes even sleep.

It's amazing what people would do not to pay a dollar. Some one would argue in the film that she was only there for five minutes and would not pay the 1.00 fee. Someone at the video store would bring a movie back late and would refuse to pay a 1.00 late fee. It's frustrating but a lot of us have been there.

My favorite part of the film was the parking lot crew's understanding on frat kids. How they throw up all over there cars drunk off their ass but yet somehow become our next senator or lawyer.

The guys at the parking lot don't want your trouble or your sorrow. They just want to get through the day.

Check this little film out. Grade: B or 8/10

So True!

[chanandchen · 7/10 · 5 November 2017]

I enjoyed this documentary. The movie is bang on. My friend works at a Toronto parking lot. It's a battle with humanity every day. You really see the 'ugly' come out in people (and by people I'm referring to customers) that you wouldn't see in any other line of work. We're talking stupid people who don't know how to drive, how to park, who refuse or are reluctant to pay, who can't park between the lines, who forget to return by a certain hour to pick up their keys and the list goes on and on. Not to mention, the demeaning and often time hostile behavior parking attendants put up with because some people are just self absorbed, self entitled jerks who have been raised by wolves. If you want to know the 'who' of who someone really is...sit back and watch how they behave in a parking lot and how they interact with the attendant. People should be ashamed of their dumb ass selves. Best social experiment ever. Well done, fellas! Sadly, you captured the real life sh*t show perfectly.

LOL @ 'Don't forget to take your medication tomorrow'!

Cleverly enjoyable, an underground artwork.

[jjnoahjames · 8/10 · 14 September 2011]

Why did I like this movie so much? A movie about a car parking lot? I'll start off by saying there is hidden meaning behind the vague simplicity. The meaning is deep. I felt secretly connected. I felt that nice warm indie movie feeling.

What connected me to The Parking Lot movie was the opinions of the attendants, and the situations they got in. I also admired the unintended, amateur splash of artistry that was laying in the background of the movie. It made me feel young.

The opinions of these attendants were deep, they range from personal thoughts of pollution, greed, power, common sense and fairness. But what makes their viewpoints shine is that they all live a lifestyle contrary to their daily customers.

neat.

A film about "otherwise unemployable misfits."

[TxMike · 10 January 2013]

My summary, "A film about otherwise unemployable misfits " is a quote from one of the participants. When you see the whole thing, and realize that some of the former employees are quite successful professionals, you realize that was just one man's view, perhaps even a 'tongue in cheek' view.

The subject parking lot is somewhat small, in Charlottesville near the university campus. A ticket is vended as a vehicle enters, but upon exit must interact with a person to pay, the subject "Parking Lot Attendant. " The owner has run this lot since 1986, or 26 years at the time of filming.

The films runs about 65 minutes, and is mostly very interesting, followed by 5 minutes of credits featuring a very inventive rap video on the theme of the parking lot itself, complete with broken wooden gate bars. It also has a montage near the end explaining where each of the featured attendants are today.

The film covers a number of subjects but the one most interesting to me deals with how these attendants view the world as represented by the parking clients. Those who don't want to pay, or who vomit in the lot after a night of drinking, or the complaints about the big SUVs that take up so much room. Thinks like that.

Truly a "slice of life" as framed by the parking lot and all that happens in around it. Good film, not too long, not too short.

Good Movie to pass the time

[krdworak · 6/10 · 6 February 2011]

Well not that I would foolhardily give away any spoilers I think the title does a good job of doing that..

This movie is about a parking lot.. takes place in a parking lot.. and does not leave the parking lot. While it wasn't the longest documentary I have seen, it seemed like it. The camera work was decent and the story line was actually amusing. The first twenty minutes or so I was skeptical yet.. I still ended up watching the movie in its entirety. I must say that the movie gave me a momentary euphoric feeling but not one that could compare to lets say.. Shrek.

If you don't have anything else to watch.. this will help pass the time.

Self-important pricks vs the world

[Kalle_it · 1/10 · 31 March 2011]

This documentary is just a one-hour long rant, the usual 'outcasts are better than you' cliché from indie movies.

The guys working at the Parking Lot aren't really better than the preppies they dislike so much, and the tirade about rich and unpleasant daddy's boys and girls driving SUVs and making in one year the money the parking lot attendant will make in his whole life reeks of sour grapes, frustration and reversed classism.

Sure, who doesn't despise arrogant jerks who live on daddy's money... but on the other hand it's not a good reason to be equally obnoxious. I can't see much difference between the annoying brats who, as the movie put it, "think they're hot *bleep* because they drive daddy's car" and the parking lot attendants who think they're hot *bleep* because they have a Ph.D. and feel they're rebelling against society.

The parking lot attendants come off as pretentious, wannabe-intellectuals who try to pass off their shortcomings as a 'way of life', even as a voluntary exile from the 'outside world'. But in truth I find it hard to buy such idea... I can't help but thinking the whole thing is a self-comforting facade, a way to cope with unfulfilled expectations.

At one point one of them say "you get paid to do nothing!", so it makes me wonder a bit... Are those overqualified intellectualoids working at the parking lot because it's a non-competitive job, where they're paid to sit and read or listen to music and goof around? Are they rebelling (in a pretty inane way) to capitalism or are they just a bunch of Peter Pans who refused to grow up and take responsibility, so they just live in their little world where they are Somebody and nobody questions them?

To be honest I've always struggled to get the 'Slacker pride' many indie movies have celebrated over the years...

As a whole, the movie is just boring and not remotely as funny as many reviews made it to be. I can't even relate to them, not because I'm a SUV-driving no-good frat-boy (which I'm not), but because if I'll ever find myself stuck in a rut like that, I would really struggle to feel so proud about it.

The Parking Lot Movie is an exercise in self-importance, self-indulgence and unjustified smugness.

An obnoxious manifesto of the underachievers who are proud to be underachievers (and afraid to prove themselves)

Hell, if you're so smart and educated, quit that job and go earn thousands of dollars a month... So you can get back at the preppies on their own ground instead of making petty remarks while exerting your Parking Lot Attendant powers.

Define 'Over-Educated'

[preston-western · 5/10 · 6 October 2012]

I am hoping that I missed something by not watching the entire film. I can only hear people refer to themselves as 'over-educated' and not 'under-employed' so many times. These people are no more well read than half of our prison population, and I don't mean that as an insult; prisoners have a lot of time to read. Although these characters are somewhat appealing at first, they lose that appeal when they mock the 'privileged' client whom they believe they are exploiting. Spoiler alert! Not for the viewers, but for the characters. The owner is a savvy salesman who recognized your dissidence and arrogance combined with your resume populated with a lack of practical knowledge. He then gave you and your cohorts a place to hang-out and 'stick it to the man' for minimum wage.

In the parking lot, we had nothing.

[JoeBobJones · 9 August 2011]

I admire gatherings of misfits, especially those who know they are nothing more than nerds, geeks, slackers, slobs, and loving brothers of such a strange and lonely tree house. The Parking Lot Movie appeals to the D+D player, the skater, the self titled hermit who holds some small sway over the flood of money, cars, and assholes which roll incessantly over us all small people. These parking lot attendants hold sway over those otherwise removed and privileged SUV driving douche bags in a delicious and terrible manner. Fine, who needs further fuel to fan the flames of their disdain for the sorority chick, the frat boy, or the soccer mom? No one, but you can't help but love these fantastically over educated, smarmy snidely lords of the lot. It makes you want to lose any drive, and sidle in with a group of smack talking punks of your own. You know you know them, or knew them, and you want to be a part of their lordship. It is as endearing as anything I've seen in the past year, and they don't pretend anything at all. It's just a fracking parking lot, yet they rule, and they all love it. Fun doc to watch.

Wow, What a bunch of losers!

[mohancraig · 5/10 · 21 December 2017]

It's amazing how these useless people in our society who most likely smoke weed everyday claim to be somehow superior to those of us who just hold jobs (doing actual work) making money by earning it rather than extortion.. I never pay for parking unless it's a meter; paying for for parking is like paying to take a s**t!

Don't Forget to Pay at the Gate

[Michael_Elliott · 15 July 2012]

The Parking Lot Movie (2010)

*** (out of 4)

Bizarre but entertaining documentary taking a look at a parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia where we see the man who owns it and the men who run it. We get to hear their various stories but mainly we see what they do at their job, which is usually nothing as they sit around trying to keep themselves entertained while waiting for someone to cheat them. This is a pretty strange documentary but director Meghan Eckman spent three years on this project and it's certainly original to say the very least. I must admit that I didn't find too many of the personal stories very interesting. Perhaps had more time been devoted to the actual characters then this would have improved things but even at 70-minutes the film does seem a bit too long so perhaps not adding any extra scenes was good. What kept me entertained was some of the things that I was curious about. Every time I leave a parking garage I usually wonder about how much money they're taking in and about the person who might own it. It was fascinating hearing from the owner who talks about how he got in the business and how he hires people to look after the lot. Another interesting aspect was hearing the workers talk about how boring it was and we get to see some of the activities to keep them entertained. However, the best stuff deals with some of the rude customers and how the employees deal with them. Even better are the scenes dealing with people trying to get away without paying.

An enjoyable, but slow starting film

[oscar-35 · 12 January 2013]

*Spoiler/plot- The Parking Lot Movie, 2010. This documentary film follows a group of present day and past parking lot attendants to get their experiences and insights about working that job. They point out the social and practical matters that make the job what it is today.

*Special Stars- Chris Farina, John Beers, Tyler Mgill, James, McNew, Scott Meiggs, Nate Millington, Mark Schottinger.

*Theme- No matter what job you have, always be proud of it and do it well.

*Trivia/location/goofs- documentary, parking lot in Charlottesville, Virginia.

*Emotion- An enjoyable, but slow starting film about a very small segment of workers in Virginia. The film picks up and it's pace becomes more watchable when the crew tell of their oddest experiences and craziest moments.