Simply a Nerdy Documentary about Nerdy People

I caught “The Parking Lot Movie” (2010) on Netflix Instant, you know, that repository of every second-rate documentary, B-movie, and mediocre TV episode you could ever want for nine bucks every month whether you watch it or not. Great. Now I sound like one of the entitled a-holes who plague the parking lot attendants in this amiable documentary by Meghan Eckman.

The movie follows the daily lives of parking lot attendants in Charlottesville, Virginia as they deal with obnoxious customers, decorate their shack with witty parking-themed aphorisms, play “flip cone,” and wax philosophical about the meaning of it all. Really, at its core, “The Parking Lot Movie” is just a nerdy movie about nerdy people. That’s not a bad thing. It’s like the “Seinfeld” of documentaries, a contemplative, in-depth study of nothing. Besides, were you expecting more from “The Parking Lot Movie” than people working at a parking lot?

But even beyond its simple premise and really simple characters, what is remarkable about the documentary is that it stays engaging despite the lack of any real conflict. Yes, there are antagonists: the jerks that rip-off, berate, and belittle the parking attendants. But they’re mostly faceless; just one more SUV driver complaining about a $2 stay in the lot.

The heroes of the film – the students and slackers who sacrifice a little of their sanity to occupy the parking lot shack – are portrayed as uncomplicated, drama-free guys. All of them are likeable, most are a little socially awkward, and none seem close to the Type-A pricks that treat them like D-list people. This is not to say that the downtrodden workers don’t strike back: overcharging the pricks who lay on the horn in line and even chasing down deadbeats to kick in their tailgates.

But basically, Eckman wants us to know that each of these attendants is a nice guy – and they are all guys, women need not apply, apparently. Even the parking lot’s owner is a good dude who cares about his attendants, hoping that the experience, as bad as it can be, can enrich his workers somehow and giving one of the workers a gold watch after working the lot for over a decade.

I really wanted to be cynical about these guys, wanted to imagine that they would grow up to become the pricks in the Hummers who hassle their social inferiors over the matter of what is less than their morning latte. But I guess I’m trusting, I identify with them and, at my core, want to believe that all of us who feel powerless and unimportant sometimes; we who feel picked on by a world where a-holes get to the top, are really the moral superiors. If only life were that simple.