Zachary’s discussion of the team’s war against bugs in the system among them the potent-lethal “showstoppers”–might be tedious were it not for his adeptness at portraying the human drama behind the undertaking. In one poignant vignette, he describes how the 7-year-old son of an overworked team member promised to throw away all his toys if only his father could stay for a Saturday-morning soccer game. (The father took the morning off.) “Showstopper” is a worthwhile mad on two levels: it’s a compelling tale about the creation of a groundbreaking product, and an allegory about the darker side of the American workplace.
