Haiku Tunnel (2001)

Josh has an offer to "go perm" at his employer and the first task is to mail 17 high priority letters....something that seems a little difficult to do.

Directors:

Jacob Kornbluth, Josh Kornbluth

Writers:

Josh Kornbluth, Jacob Kornbluth

Stars:

Josh Kornbluth, Warren Keith, Sarah Overman

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Josh Kornbluth	...	Josh Kornbluth
Warren Keith	...	Bob 'Bob' Shelby
Sarah Overman	...	Julie Faustino
Leah Alperin	...	Temp #1
Jacob Kornbluth	...	Temp #2
Stephen Muller	...	Temp #3
Linda Norton	...	Temp #4
Helen Shumaker	...	Marlina D'Amore
Amy Resnick	...	Mindy
Brian Thorstenson	...	Clifford
June Carryl	...	DaVonne (as June Lomena)
Joanne Evangelista	...	Caryl
Jennifer Laske	...	Helen the Ex-Girlfriend
Patricia Scanlon	...	Helen the Ex-Secretary
Joe Bellan	...	Jimmy the Mail Clerk

Storyline

Haiku Tunnel is a frenetic office comedy about a neurotic male secretary who is a terrific temp but a horrible perm. When his new boss (a tax attorney who just may be Satan) gives him 17 very important letters to mail out, he doesn't, and the ensuing complications bring him face-to-face with a lifetime of personal demons.

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Plot Keywords:

boss | secretary | office | corporate world | based on monologue | 

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Taglines:

An office comedy

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Genres:

Comedy

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some sexuality

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 January 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

I'm Just a Secretary

Filming Locations:

Oakland, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$35,386, 16 September 2001, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$251,058, 30 December 2001

Company Credits

Production Co:

B9 Films,Hello Hooker Productions,Mike's Movies

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The director's lack of frog anatomy knowledge resulted in the eyeglasses for the frog eventually being jury-rigged with a paper clip and rubber band.

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Goofs

When going through the instructions left for Helen, Joshua says it is "Eleven and a half single-spaced pages", but the document is double-spaced.

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Quotes

Bob 'Bob' Shelby: Go back to your desk. Settle down. Focus. And catch up.

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Crazy Credits

At the end of the credits we hear a voiceover of Bob Shelby's dictating a letter

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Alternate Versions

DVD includes outtakes and six deleted scenes:

• Medieval Marlina: a 'secretarial simulation' showing Marlina dressed in medieval garb;
• Neurotic Adventurer: on his way to the Pine building, Josh has a flashback of himself in college;
• Apology: more footage of Josh trying to convinge the guard to let him enter the Pine building;
• Politeness: Josh complains about Bob Shelby's constant politeness;
• Fatelets: Josh delivers a monologue while having sex with Julia;
• Coda: epilogue showing Josh bicycling up on a mountain. He meets Darlene, and they ride away together on her motorcycle.

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Connections

Features Have You Got Any Castles? (1938)

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Soundtracks

L'oiseau de feu
(The Firebird)
Igor Stravinsky

User Reviews

hysterically funny

I only watched this because I was intrigued by the title and when I read the description in the online tv listings it just said, "temp job becomes permanent," and I wanted to see how you could get a movie out of that. Anyway, this film is absolutely wonderful, laugh out loud funny throughout. It's based on a monologue by Josh Kornbluth, parts of which are included, and that's probably the weakest part of the movie, since while it probably worked great with an audience some of it seems overly silly and frenetic without a live audience laughing. But most of it is utterly amazing, especially for us ex temps who loved Clockwatchers, and there are some wonderful performances, most notably Helen Shumaker as a Nurse Ratchet-style head secretary and Warren Keith as Josh's low-key boss. Well worth seeing, I gave it 8/10 in the vote.