Annabelle Gurwitch had a great job working on a musical with Woody Allen. That is, until Woody fired her. After spending a great deal of time commiserating with her friends and colleagues on the experience, Annabelle realized that what she found intriguing about her situation was not that she had been fired, but the stories that so many people had to tell of the experience.

Enter “Fired!,” Gurwitch’s 2007 documentary that puts a slight comedic twist on the experience of being “canned,” “let go,” “sacked,” “getting the axe,” or any of the other words and phrases everyone out there uses to describe the ordeal of losing a job. Make no mistake though; this documentary is not all about laughs. Aside from the array of comedians that tell their (often amusing) stories of being let go (including Tim Allen, Bruce Cameron, David Cross, and Andy Dick), Gurwitch hits the streets and the job fairs to hear stories from everyday people as well. Above all, the film attempts to place unemployment in perspective and let the viewer know that as personal and insulting being fired can be, it isn’t the end of the world.

In the end, “Fired!” is a film that lets the viewer know that sometimes being fired is life’s way of telling us that it is time to move on to the next chapter of our lives and make something happen. Being fired is one of life’s most difficult experiences, but this film is worth a viewing because it places the problem in perspective, while also giving us something to smile about. While it is not a perfect film, it contains a lot of insight into just why we feel the way we do when we get the dreaded news and hopefully how we can cope with the pain and move on with our lives in a constructive way.

Click here to view the movie trailer.