“Getting fired is god’s way of saying you should be doing something else,” says one of the more optimistic interviewees in this documentary about that event that ranks between death and taxes on the list of life experiences we all least look forward to. In the case of comedienne Annabelle Gurwitch, it apparently meant that god wanted her to write a newspaper column, develop a Broadway production, write a book and now put together a movie, all flowing from the same humiliating moment when Woody Allen decided he’d rather not have her appear in his new play after all. (In a recreation of the moment, the adjective “retarded” is used to assess her audition.) It didn’t take long for Gurwitch to realize that being fired in such a way gave her a great cocktail party story—and that an awful lot of people have equally entertaining stories to tell about losing various jobs. (As Judy Gold puts it, “Pain plus time equals comedy.”) Much of Fired! plays like outtakes from The Aristocrats, or maybe an unsold VH1 series called I Love the Unemployment Line, with an endless parade of Comedy Central-familiar faces telling their favorite severance stories. The strength and weakness of the film comes from Gurwitch’s casting her net wide to deal with the enormity of the topic. Some of the comic ideas are either overextended (a very funny story by actor Tate Donovan unnecessarily enacted by sock puppets) or merely stillborn (a skit with Andy Dick involving…well, Andy Dick.) But when the movie gently edges into seriousness with a Michael Moore-ish look at General Motors squeezing concessions out of its union employees and then firing them anyway, it’s surprisingly effective. The biggest surprise comes from an unexpectedly emotional outburst by former Nixon speechwriter Ben Stein: Presumably brought on board to offer an alternative point of view to Clinton labor secretary and NPR commentator Robert Reich, he instead demonstrates the difference between a conservative and the neocons who are hard at work destroying the American way of life. Clocking in at under 72 minutes, Fired! is too slight and erratic to be really worth the price of admission if you’re collecting unemployment yourself, though it’s worth a look to those who don’t have to worry about the cost of a ticket.