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 1999 R / Comedy Directed by: Starring: |
- Work Sucks.
Summary Capsule
- Like Falling Down in a corporate culture with less guns
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Justin's Rating: I, too, have spent many years cursing "PC LOAD LETTER"
Justin's Review: If Dante had written his Inferno today, no doubt a special level of hell would be reserved for mindless cubicle dwellers trapped in the bureaucracy of the corporate life. Enter Office Space, a more-than-accurate depiction of the life that many lead and few glamorize. Peter (Ron Livingston) is at the end of his rope, asked by no less than 8 bosses to submit the same form properly. His co-workers Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton (David Herman) are underpaid, overworked, and forced to suffer indignities at the hands of their moronic boss Bill (Gary Cole). Even simpleton Milton (Stephen Root) is downsided to smaller and smaller cubicles, and has his favorite stapler stolen.
I loved Office Space. More each time I see it, to tell the truth. If you ever developed an eye twitch at the blockheaded actions of idiotic bosses, then you'll enjoy a vicarious sense of satisfaction as well. The boss Bill is perfectly type-cast, punctuating the beginning of every statement with an "Oh, Um, Hm, Yeah", and basically treats his underlings like illiterate peasant serfs infested with lice and sores. They could make an easy sequel where Bill is tortured on the rack for two straight hours, and I'd go see it without reserve.
The twisted moral of Office Space is that the corporate culture is out of control and operating in its own alternate dimension; thus, it's okay to strike back by fighting with equally stupid tactics. One of the best examples of how everything is out of wack is that heavy-duty gangsta music dominates the score of this film, a film in which the primary characters are about as far removed from gangsta life as I am from the President's dog's butt. (Once again, I am pleasantly surprised to whip up a metaphor at moment's notice that really makes no sense).
Stupidity sucks. Office Space rules. So blast up the Notorious B.I.G. and rebel in a small yet meaningful way by renting this MRFH classic.
PoolMan's Rating: Guy has job. Guy hates job. Guy inspires PoolMan.
PoolMan's Review: Talk about an underrated movie. I was told about this while it was still in theaters, but put it off until video time. Which is good, cause you hardly need the big screen to enjoy this movie, but enjoy it you will. If you qualify.
Justin has already gleefully retold the story for me, so I won't bother adding to it. I will, however, throw in my vote that this movie is a born classic. It absolutely reminds me of the comedy's comedy (like a man's man, only it's a movie. Ah, never mind.), kind of like how I'm always pining for the 80's. There are SO many little jokes in this movie you'll never catch all of them.
Ironically, the character the film is based on, Milton, is kind of painful to watch. Not that the joke is without merit, but I found his scenes to be kind of slow. Just a thought. However, on the flip side, I could watch Peter's antics for hours without a break. It's nice to have a character you can live so vicariously through.
I actually found the pace of the movie to be thoroughly enjoyable throughout. The scenes which descend into the heavy gangsta rap (centered about the ironically named Michael Bolton) are really quite funny. I've had my eye on a few pieces of office equipment that I'd like to take into a field and kick around for a while. And while I would never have the... um, courage, to steal $300,000 from the company I work for, I certainly enjoyed the whole money laundering thing. Especially for the fact that none of them have any idea what money laundering actually is.
Pick it up. Watch it. Love it. Send donations. (Care of Justin, of course. I'm not allowed to handle MRFH funds after the... incident.)
Clare's Rating: I think it's one of the funniest movies ever. Yeah, you heard me. I ain't scared.
Clare's Review: I've seen Office Space about 100 times. Every time I see it, it's more funny than the last. Every time I see it, I find one or two more little details or line deliveries or sight gags that I hadn't seen before or that I didn't fully appreciate before that make the whole thing that much more
amazing and hilarious.
On to the details:
The cast of this movie, from top to bottom, is amazing and genius and perfect. Ron Livingston as every-man-without-a-plan Peter Gibbons? Couldn't be more perfect. Gary Cole as the wishy-washy passive-aggressive boss? Spot on! Ajay Naidu and David Herman as Peter's work buddies? So funny I peed. Stephen Root as Milton Waddams, a character based on a cartoon? If you've ever seen the original Milton episodes that aired on SNL and Liquid Television, you know how ridiculously amazing he is at perfecting this role. Dedrich Bader as mullet king Lawrence? I have no words. The list goes on and on and on right down to the receptionist who answers the phone the exact same annoying way every single time. I didn't even hate Jennifer Aniston in her role as Peter's flair-wearing, bird-flipping girlfriend Joanna.
Two other things:
Office Space was shot in Austin, Texas. Which is where I live (duh). I know someone who actually works in the building they used for the Initech building. Finding this out at a party while commiserating about our crappy cube jobs was so funny I had to sit down for a couple of minutes after she told me.
I am also convinced, along with many other people who know him, that my old neighbor James HAS to be the inspiration for Dedrich Bader's character Lawrence. James used to sling coffee at a popular café here on the University of Texas campus and he's a really memorable and funny presence just about everywhere he goes. The similarities between the two are way too accurate to be a coincidence. Don't believe me? Check this and this out.
Go rent Office Space. No. Go BUY Office Space. Because you'll watch it regularly for years to come.
Al's Rating: Did you ever know that you’re my heeeeroooooooooo? And everything I wish I could beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?
Al's Review: There’s a certain rare class of movie we consider unrepeatable. These are films that can so completely define an experience that trying to top it or redo it or build on it in any way is just out of the question. Most of these are AFI-style bona fide classics like Saving Private Ryan, Easy Rider, or The Grapes of Wrath, where People Who Were There can point to a moment or a sequence and say “That’s exactly it. That’s what it was like.” To some, Office Space may seem like odd company for such films, but these are obviously people who have never had to spend half their waking hours each day staring at a computer monitor in a 4x4 box with their name on it.
Fast forward ten years later, and I am firmly entrenched in Cubicle Hell. Arbitrarily downsized into a smaller cube? Check. Five different bosses all within fifty yards of my desk? Check. A demon printer that refuses to print anything I ask it to until I have thrown up my hands in defeat and begun to transcribe it on pad and paper? Big check. With his newly-purchased Special Edition Gift Set (with Flair!) in his hot little hand, an old college buddy of mine convinces me to sit down and watch Office Space again for the first time in at least five or six years, and Oh My Sweet Cryin’ Mama if it isn’t my life, complete with the lady two desks away repeating the same three phrases again and again and again until you just can’t see the harm in wearing earplugs on the clock.
If you’ve ever looked around one day and realized that Dress-Down Friday has become the highlight of your week or heard phrases like ‘profit margin’ and ‘private equity unit’ coming from your mouth than this is a movie you will learn to cherish. There’s some nonsense in the last half hour about a plot and a storyline, but that should be of no concern to you. Just to watch Peter navigate his way through his TPS report-laden, passive-aggressive, white collar shell game of a job and act out every fantasy you’ve ever held about what exactly you would do to tear it all down is perhaps one of the most satisfying things I’ve seen in a long, long time. It’s really lightning in a bottle, a movie that they couldn’t have made any more perfect if they tried (and I think if they had tried, the whole thing probably would have collapsed on itself). For all of you on the outside looking in: Office Space is it. That’s what it feels like.
Trust me, I’ve been there.
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- How many messages Peter has on his machine
- Where the red stapler ends up
- If your name is Bob, you're slated for top level management
- "Oswald" from Drew Carey in another white collar comedy?
- Director Mike Judge as Stan, Joanna's boss at Chotchkie's
- When Peter is in the meeting room, on the white board behind him there is a complicated flow chart titled "Planning to Plan."
- Gary Cole's character wears a large, gold class ring of the style that are common for graduates from military academies. This ring was originally a prop produced for the short-lived science fiction series, "Crusade," on which Cole played captain Matthew Gideon. The ring was worn in every episode, and was supposed to show that Gideon was a graduate of Earthforce Military Academy. "Office Space" was the first project Cole worked on following the cancellation of "Crusade," and wore the ring as an "in" joke, referring to his previous job.
- Peter Gibbons lives in the "Morningwood Apartments," a reference to a frequent theme of director Mike Judge's Beavis and Butthead.
- All the license plates are generic "USA" plates
- Al S. sent in, "In the shots of the front of the Initech office building there is a metal sculpture of a square peg going through a round hole! Pure Genius!! Mike Judge thought of everything!"
Is It Worth Staying Through End Credits?
Yes, there are outtakes during the start of the credits for each actor's name.
Intermission! [some sources: IMDb]
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Apparently, the real Michael Bolton has fallen under attack by people spitting the "No Talent Ass-Clown" line at him, over and over. Reportedly (and man, am I trying to find the article where I read this), Bolton has snapped at more than a few Office Space fans for this line.
[Justin] As I referred to in my Rating line, I have ample experience with "PC LOAD LETTER". Having worked as a computer consultant for my college for 4 years, I spent most of those hours refilling the printer paper trays (which is where that particular error message comes up). I do wish I had the opportunity to do to a printer what they did in the movie.
Office Space is based on a cartoon by Mike Judge, of Beavis and Butthead fame. Surprisingly, it's still very funny.
The red Swingline stapler that Milton was so afraid of having taken away was never actually manufactured by the Swingline company; it was instead painted red by a crew member in the props department. However, following the movie's success on video as a cult film, the demand for red Swingline staplers (apparently as a symbol of quiet rebellion among cubicle-bound employees) was so great that the company began to sell the red Swingline stapler on its website.
Groovy Quotes
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Bosses: We need to talk about your TPS report.
Bob: You've been missing quite a bit of work lately.
Peter: Well, I wouldn't say that I've been actually MISSING it, Bob.
Peter: I don't like my job. I don't think I'll go anymore.
Joanna: You're gonna quit your job?
Peter: No, I'm just not gonna go anymore.
Peter: My God, we're such nerds. Here we are, trying to look up "money laundering" in the dictionary!
Peter: It's not that I'm lazy... I just don't care.
Peter: He represents all that is soulless and wrong... and you slept with him!
Peter: Ever since I started working... um, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me... that's on the worse day of my life.
Therapist: What about today? Is today the worse day of your life?
Peter: Yeah.
Therapist: Wow, that's messed up.
Drew: I'm thinking about taking that new chick from Logistics. If things go right I might be showing her my O-face. You know: Oh! Oh!
Tom: It's a "Jump to Conclusions Mat"! You see, you have this mat, with different CONCLUSIONS written on it that you could JUMP TO!
Michael: That is the worst idea I've ever heard!
Samir: Yes, this is horrible, this idea!
Peter: Good luck with your layoffs, alright, I hope your firings go really, really well.
Bob: Excellent.
Bob: Great... Wow.
Lawrence: Hey Peter, check it out, channel 9, it's the breast exams!
Samir: No one is this country can ever pronounce my name right. It's not that hard: Nayee-Nanajar. Nayeenanajar.
Michael: Yeah, well, at least you're name isn't Michael Bolton.
Samir: You know, there's nothing wrong with that name.
Michael: There WAS nothing wrong with it. Until I was about 12 years old, and that no-talent-ass-clown BECAME famous and started winning Grammy's.
Samir: Why don't you just go by Mike, instead of Michael?
Michael: No way! Why should I change it? He's the one who sucks.
Peter: I don't like my job and I don't think I'll go anymore.
Joanna: You're just not gonna go?
Peter: Yeah.
Joanna: Won't you get fired?
Peter: I don't know. But I really don't like it and, uh, I'm not gonna go.
Joanna: So you're gonna quit?
Peter: Uh-uh. Not really. I'm just gonna stop going.
Joanna: When did you decide all that?
Peter: About an hour ago.
Joanna: So you're going to get another job?
Peter: I don't think I'll like another job.
Joanna: Well what are you going to do about money? Bills?
Peter: You know I never really liked paying bills, I don't think I'm going to do that either.
Bob: If you would, would you walk us through a typical day, for you?
Peter: Yeah.
Bob: Great.
Peter: Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, ah, I use the side door--that way Lumbergh can't see me, heh -- after that I sorta space out for an hour.
Bob: Da-uh? Space out?
Peter: Yeah, I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
Milton: [talking on the phone)] And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and its not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set...
Milton: [whispering] I could set the building on fire...
Milton: Excuse me, I believe you have my stapler.
Bill Lumbergh: Oh, and next Friday...is Hawaiian shirt day...so, you know, if you want to you can go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans.
Milton: I was told that I could listen to the radio at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven, I told Bill that if Sandra is going to listen to her headphones while she's filing then I should be able to listen to the radio while I'm collating so I don't see why I should have to turn down the radio because I enjoy listening at a reasonable volume from nine to eleven.
Peter: What would you do if you had a million dollars?
Lawrence: I'll tell you what I'd do, man, two chicks at the same time, man.
Peter: That's it? If you had a million dollars, you'd do two chicks at the same time?
Lawrence: Damn straight. I always wanted to do that, man. And I think if I had a million dollars I could hook that up, cause chicks dig a dude with money.
Peter: Well, not all chicks.
Lawrence: Well the kind of chicks that'd double up on a dude like me do.
Michael: You were supposed to come in Saturday. What were you doing?
Peter: Michael, I did nothing. I did absolutely nothing, and it was everything I thought it could be.
Soundtrack Review
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Apparently, it's good to be a gangsta. I don't know, I'll have to take their word for it. Used to GREAT effect in key scenes in the movie. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to pair gangster rap with buttoned down corporate misery is a GENIUS!
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This review page was last updated on 11.27.07
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