Office Space

This has to be one of my favorite movies of all time. I think anyone who has ever worked in an office will identify with all of the characters. There are days when I feel that the lead character played by Ron Livingston was based on my life. I must be having a case of the Mondays I used to work with a guy who insisted on only using his personal antique stapler. If anyone ever finds a hypnotist that can zap me into not knowing I went to work - please find me. Until then, I will continue to arrive late to work, enter through the back door, zone out for an hour pretending to work, and get an actual fifteen minutes of work done every day. This movie gets funnier every time. Everyone who commutes to work, especially in California, will also identify with the traffic scenes. After seein the movie, I can now at least smile a little thinking about how funny everyday, mundane life can really be.

I missed seeing this one way back and rediscovered it on youtude when a work-internet sort of company was using some to the cast to recreate scenes of the movie for their Web-Collaboration Tele-Work product (extremely funny ads by the way).

Great satire on the cubicle life, and really a kind of modern take on Modern Times. I cant help but think that the traffic jam at the beginning, and the close up of the watch at the start of Peters work day were homages to Charlie Chaplins opening scenes in Modern Times. Even if they werent, this movie really captures the helplessness of this kind of work and the emptiness of the kind of fake business culture that so many companies try to create. Gary Cole is spot on as the passive aggressive manager, and the two consultants are hilarious. My only complaint is Mike Judges occasional leap into his Beavis and Butthead period when corn-hole jokes and other kind of teenage potty humor ruled the day. Fortunately, most of the jokes in this movie are clever, and its depiction of modern alienation holds up after 16 years.

This movie perfectly mirrors what it was like to work at a menial office job during the 90s, and it translates well to anyone whos worked a menial job today. Office Space is required viewing, in a similar vein to Clerks as something that anyone whos ever been in this position will totally understand this movie and get it whether or not they actually like the film. Its just pure catharsis - like the scene where they beat up the terrible old office printer that everyone always hates. Watch this classic today, especially if youve ever worked in an office or a menial job.

This movie reminds me why Id never want a desk job. I had to watch it a couple of times before I got the full gist of it, but every time, I understood it more and more. Unless youre self-employed and work at home, you cant help but draw your own similarities to the Office Space work environment and your own. Ive worked with a Lumberg, a Joanna, and a Michael... and a guy who didnt have an Arabic name, but he wanted to beat up every piece of office machinery which didnt work right. We even had a Milton-like guy once... he ended up going berserk and being escorted out by the police, but thats another story. All in all, I highly recommend this movie to everyone who has a job and knows what its like to suffer from the aggravation of office politics. This movie delivers a figurative eye-gouging to all the politics and backstabbing that goes on every day in Americas corporate workplaces. It shows one of the things that can happen when big corporate CEOs think theyre making some really smart move, and end up shooting themselves in the foot instead. WORDS OF WARNING: 1) if youre a bureaucratic jerk boss like Lumberg, DO NOT watch this movie because you wont find it funny... 2) never, ever do anything to make a Milton angry, because you never know what theyll do.

If you have ever worked in an office, or felt you were just a number in the grand scheme of any corporation, youll identify yourself with this film. Did you ever feel that if you ran the company it would make sense? This Independent film exposes what we all know. The company you work for must be run by morons. It is also a great love story without any gratuitous sex or violence. In fact, it doesnt have any. If your child is 14 years-old or older he or she can enjoy it with you. (Some occasional minor profanity) You might as well prepare them now for what they will only learn when he or she enters the work force. Just because someone is their boss does not make them any smarter than anyone else. In fact, it makes you wonder how they ever obtained that position. I thought it was funny movie with a good moral ending. It is not what do for a living; it is how much you enjoy doing it. Oh, by the way, he gets the girl in the end. That should go without saying.

Office Space NEVER gets old! It almost seems as if it becomes more poignant over time. And this quote from the main character Peter Gibbons should be tweeted/shared always and forever: Michael, we dont have a lot of time on this earth! We werent meant to spend it this way. Human beings were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer screens all day, filling out useless forms and listening to eight different bosses drone on about about mission statements. This movie has so many ah-ha moments its scary -- I mean for a comedy it ends up showing you so much about real humanity and the inner struggle of the common working man/woman (especially those who work in the office farms). I think we all should have our Peter Gibbons moment every now and then, that time when we say you know what? I dont want to do this anymore. or that moment when you realize your wasting your life and you take action -- just once, walk past the boss or come to work without the jacket and tie/skirt and heels. The other thing I appreciate about this movie and all movies of this era (90s and before) is theres no cell phones, no internet, no iPads, etc. Interesting to go back and see that we actually lived lives and communicated with people without the tech we cling to today.

Not usually into comedy movies, but I found this one funny. If youve worked in an office you can relate with at least some of the characters.

This movie is a modern day classic. Anyone with a 9-5 job needs to see this movie. An EXCELLENT cast including: Cast Actor Role Notes Ron Livingston Peter Gibbons Main protagonist - Disgruntled computer programmer working for Initech. Jennifer Aniston Joanna Peters prospective girlfriend Gary Cole Bill Lumbergh Peters main boss and main antagonist David Herman Michael Bolton Peters co-worker and friend Ajay Naidu Samir Nagheenanajar Peters co-worker and friend Alexandra Wentworth Anne Peters cheating girlfriend Stephen Root Milton Waddams Meek obsessive Initech employee; mumbles a lot Richard Riehle Tom Smykowski Useless Initech employee Diedrich Bader Lawrence Peters wise, construction-worker, next-door neighbor Jenn Emerson Female Temp Super-happy case of the Mondays girl Paul Willson Bob Porter Consultant John C. McGinley Bob Slydell Consultant Kinna McInroe Nina Initech employee Todd Duffey Brian Chotchkies employee Greg Pitts Drew Initech employee (the O-face guy) Mike McShane Dr. Swanson Peters occupational hypnotherapist who dies in his first session. Linda Wakeman Laura Smykowski Toms wife Kyle Scott Jackson Rob Newhouse Toms lawyer Carolyn Cauley Initech Employee (Uncredited) Orlando Jones Steve Door-to-door magazine salesman Barbara George-Reiss Peggy Lumberghs secretary Mike Judge Stan Manager of Chotchkies (credited pseudonymously as William King) Jack Betts The Judge Appears in a dream to sentence Peters friends to prison and rule Peter himself a very bad person. John Cauley Initech Employee (Uncredited) Office Space is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes work life in a typical 1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals who are fed up with their jobs. The films sympathetic portrayal of ordinary IT workers garnered it a cult following among those in that profession, but the film also addresses themes familiar to office workers and white collar employees in general. It was filmed in Dallas and Austin, Texas. Office Space is based on the Milton series of cartoons created by Mike Judge. Office Space was Mike Judges foray into live action film and his second full length motion picture release (the first being the animated Beavis and Butt-head Do America). The promotional campaign for Office Space often associated it with Beavis and Butt-head, leading audiences to expect the brand of humor of the creators previous animated efforts rather than the relatively low-key ironic humor of the film. While not a box office success, the film has become a cult classic; it has since sold very well on VHS and DVD. Plot Peter Gibbons is a disgruntled programmer working for Initech, a company plagued by excessive management. Peter spends his days staring at his desk instead of reprogramming bank software for the then-expected Y2K disaster. His co-workers include highly strung Samir Nagheenanajar, who is annoyed by the fact that nobody can pronounce his last name correctly; Michael Bolton, who detests having the same name as the famous singer, whom he hates; and Milton Waddams, a meek, fixated collator who constantly mumbles to himself (most notably about his workmates borrowing his favorite red Swingline stapler). All four are repeatedly bullied and harassed by management, especially Initechs callous vice president, Bill Lumbergh. The staff are further agitated by the arrival of two consultants, informally known as The Bobs, since they share the same first name, who are brought in to help with cutting expenses, mainly through downsizing. Peter is depressed, bored, and pushed around at work. He attends an occupational hypnotherapy session urged upon him by his girlfriend Anne. The obese occupational hypnotherapist, Dr. Swanson, suddenly dies of a heart attack before he can snap Peter out of a state of complete relaxation. The newly relaxed and still half-hypnotized Peter wakes up the next morning and ignores continued calls from Anne (who confesses to cheating and leaves him) and Lumbergh (who was expecting Peter to work over the weekend). Peter announces that he will simply not go to work anymore, instead pursuing his lifelong dream of doing nothing, and asks out Joanna, a waitress who shares Peters loathing of idiotic management and love of the television program Kung Fu. Joanna works at Chotchkies, a restaurant that plays on TGI Fridays interior decoration and uniform standards (Joannas hatred for her occupation eventually culminates in an argument with her boss and her being fired after she gives him the finger). Peter then begins removing items at work that exemplify his unhappiness (inspirational banners, a wall of his cubicle that blocks his view, and a printer that is prone to constant errors) and takes Lumberghs parking spot. Despite Peters poor attendance record, laziness and insubordination at work, he is promoted by the Bobs because of the positive impression he leaves upon them with his earnestness. Meanwhile, Michael and Samir are fired, seemingly a symptom of the disposability with which the consultants view most Initech employees. To exact revenge on Initech, the three friends decide to infect the accounting system with a computer virus, designed to divert fractions of pennies into a bank account they control. A misplaced decimal point causes the virus to steal over $300,000 in the first few days, a far more conspicuous loss to Initech. After a crisis of conscience and an argument with Joanna, Peter writes a letter in which he takes all the blame for the crime, then slips an envelope containing the letter and the money (in unsigned travelers checks) under the door of Lumberghs office late one night. He fully expects to be arrested the next morning, but his problem solves itself: Milton, after getting his stapler taken away by Lumbergh, being increasingly ignored, having to move to the cockroach-infested basement, and not receiving any more paychecks, finally snaps and sets fire to the Initech office building, having warned several times throughout the film that he would do so (Milton had actually been laid off years earlier; nobody told him, and he continued to come in to work and get paid due to a system glitch). Peter finally finds a job that he likes: doing construction work with his next door neighbor, Lawrence. Samir and Michael get jobs at Intertrode, a rival company. While helping haul away the rubble from the fire, Peter finds Miltons stapler and keeps it, saying I think I know someone who might want this. The last scene of the movie shows that Milton has made his way to a resort in Mexico with the money Peter left in Lumberghs office. Production Filmed primarily in Austin, Texas, the origins for Office Space lie in a series of four animated short films about an office drone named Milton that Mike Judge created, which first aired on Liquid Television and Night After Night with Allan Havey, and later aired on Saturday Night Live. The inspiration came from a temp job he once had that involved alphabetizing purchase orders and a job he had as an engineer for three months in the Bay Area during the 1980s, just in the heart of Silicon Valley and in the middle of that overachiever yuppie thing, it was just awful. The setting of the film reflected a prevailing trend that Judge observed in the United States. It seems like every city now has these identical office parks with identical adjoining chain restaurants, he said in an interview. He remembers, There were a lot of people who wanted me to set this movie in Wall Street, or like the movie Brazil, but I wanted it very unglamorous, the kind of bleak work situation like I was in. Judge sold the film to 20th Century Fox based on his script and a cast that included Jennifer Aniston, Ron Livingston, and David Herman. Originally, the studio wanted to make a movie out of the Milton character but Judge was not interested, opting instead to make more of an ensemble cast-based film. The studio suggested he make a movie like Car Wash but just set in an office. Judge made the relatively painless transition from animation to live-action with the help of the films director of photography who taught him about lenses and where to put the camera. Judge says, I had a great crew, and its good going into it not pretending youre an expert. Studio executives were not happy with the footage Judge was getting. He remembers them telling him, More energy! More energy! We gotta reshoot it! Youre failing! Youre failing! In addition, Fox did not like the gangsta rap music used in the film until a focus group approved of it. Judge hated the ending and felt that a complete rewrite of the third act was necessary. Judge also hated the poster that the studio created for Office Space. He said, People were like, What is this? A big bird? A mummy? A beekeeper? And the tagline Work Sucks? It looked like an Office Depot ad. I just hated it. I hated the trailers, too and the TV ads especially. Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Tom Rothman conceded that the marketing campaign did not work and said, Office Space isnt like American Pie. It doesnt have the kind of jokes you put in a 15-second television spot of somebody getting hit on the head with a frying pan. Its sly. And let me tell you, sly is hard to sell. [edit] Reception Office Space was released on February 19, 1999 in 1,740 theatres, grossing USD $4.2 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $10.8 million in North America, barely recouping its production costs. On the Monday after the opening weekend, Judge received a phone call from Jim Carreys agent. The comedian loved the film and wanted to meet him. Chris Rock called two weeks later. The film received mixed to positive reviews with a 79% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 68 metascore on Metacritic. In his review in the New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote, It has the loose-jointed feel of a bunch of sketches packed together into a narrative that doesnt gather much momentum. Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote that Judge, treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques. In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle writes, Livingston is nicely cast as Peter, a young guy whose imagination and capacity for happiness are the very things making him miserable. In the USA Today, Susan Wloszczyna wrote, If youve ever had a job, youll be amused by this paean to peons. However, Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly gave the film a C rating and criticized it for feeling cramped and underimagined. In his review for the Globe and Mail, Rick Groen wrote, Perhaps his TV background makes him unaccustomed to the demands of a feature-length script (the ending seems almost panicky in its abruptness); or maybe he just succumbs to the lure of the easy yuk . . . what began as discomfiting satire soon devolves into silly farce. In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named Office Space one of the The 100 best films from 1983 to 2008, ranking it at #73. [edit] Legacy Office Space has become a cult classic, selling very well on home video. As of 2003, it had sold 2.6 million copies on VHS and DVD. In the same year, it was in the top 20 best-selling Fox DVDs along with Theres Something About Mary. The movie is also available on Blu-ray. Comedy Central premiered Office Space on August 5, 2001 and 1.4 million viewers tuned in. By 2003, the channel had broadcast the film another 33 times. These broadcasts helped develop the films cult following and Ron Livingston remembers being approached by college students and office workers. He said, I get a lot of people who say, I quit my job because of you. Thats kind of a heavy load to carry. People approached Stephen Root asking him to sign their staplers. The Red Swingline stapler featured prominently in the film was not available until April 2002 when the company released it in response to repeated requests by fans of Office Space. Entertainment Weekly ranked it fifth on its list 25 Great Comedies From the Past 25 Years, despite having originally given the film a poor review. On February 8, 2009, a reunion of the cast took place at the Paramount Theatre in Austin to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the movie, which included the destruction of a fax machine on the sidewalk. This DVD made an EXCELLENT CHRISTMAS GIFT. The person that received it loved this movie. Thank you for such a wonderful item.

A delightfully funny and heart warming romantic comedy (with emphasis on comedy) which was the first time I saw Ron Livingston acting; he plays Peter Gibbons. He is extremely funny as a somewhat pathetic and alienated office worker (computer programmer) who is used and abused by the computer software company he works for as is his two friends. After a botches hypnosis session that is supposed to make Peter content with his life as a computer programmer but instead emboldens him to live his life completely disregarding any consequences regarding his work (like fishing instead of working, sleeping in until 11:00 am then showing up for work for a few hours and then leaving), consultants advise him that his two buddies, fellow programmers Michael Botton (David Herman) and Samir (Ajay Naidu), two of the best programmers and most senior employees will be fired to save money by outsourcing their programming to India. Peter convinces his two friends help him defraud the company they work for at the rate of few pennies a day using a computer virus designed by David so that after several years they will have a tidy nest egg in savings. Peter, thanks to the hypnosis session, finds the boldness he previously lacked and begins dating Joanna (Jennifer Aniston); quickly they fall in love. Unfortunately, his romance is interrupted when he checks how Michaels virus is working. In one day, the computer program that should have collected a couple pennies collects over a $100,000. Faced with certain discovery, Peters friendship with Samir and Michael as well as his romance with Joanna are shattered, and Peter plans to turn himself in while taking all the blame for the crime so that his friends will remain free. While on the way to the police and jail, Peter notices a fire (set by a different disgruntled employee) that burns down the computer company he works for, thus destroying all the incriminating accounting documents that might trace him to the crime; BTW, the money is also destroyed by the fire. This intended act of self-sacrifice regains the friendship of Samir and Michael, as well as the respect of Joanna. Thus, Peter is saved from jail, is reunited with his love, and regains the friendship of his two closest friends. This rather low budget film I found tastefully funny, relevant to contemporary feelings of alienation and hostility to companies out to make money at the expense of exploiting employees, and full of well written script and interesting and original plot. I heartily recommend it to film fans of comedy and/or romantic comedy.