Office Space

Good movie, great cast.

I first watched this is my goverment class in high school and I didnt get the film, as well as not having any interest in watching it. Then after knowing more about Mike Judge, I watched it during the pandemic and it now made sense as I was viewing it as an adult in his thirties instead as a high school student who just turned 18. The time that I rewatched it happened was when a year later many people quit their jobs in the summer of 2021 after realizing that they dont visualize themselves continuing with their careers that they spent most of their adult lives in and replaced it with doing whatever brings them joy. Ive told people Ive had conversations with about the labor shortage that Its Office Space in real life. Plus Jennifer Aniston is fantastic in the film.

Hands down the greatest piece of satire of all time for the modern working class.

After a breif run at the theaters, Office Space has found a renewed and vibrant life on video tape. It seems that everyone I talk to -- no matter what their age, background, or current job -- considers this film to be a personal favorite, a film that they can especially relate to. The reasons are pretty obvious. Everyone hates their job. Everyone feels that theyre working for idiots who fail to understand just how special and unique their neglected employees truly are. This is something that we all have in common, whether we work for a retail chain or a fortune 500 company. This is also a feeling that Office Space manages to perfectly capture. Taking place in Houston in waning days of the 20th Century, Office Space stars Ron Livingston as an affable computer programmer who has found himself stuck in a dead end job that requires him to spend countless hours looking over a code to make sure that various computers are Y2K compliant. Its a job that makes little sense to him but one that hes expected to devote his life to. His coworkers are all incredibly (and realistically) annoying. Who hasnt had to deal with someone like the Looks Like Somebodys Got a Case of the Mondays! woman? His bosss (a hilarious Gary Cole) blandly friendly manner brings new meaning to the term corporate evil, while over in the next cubicle, pasty-faced Milton (Stephen Root, also hilarious) mutters about burning down the building. Finally fed up, Livington first seeks help from a hypnotherapist, pursues a relationship with a waitress (Jennifer Anniston who is sweetly likeable here but doesnt have much to do) at a generic Chilis-like establishment, and finally engages in a plan to embezzle money from the company. Obviously, the plot is a little bit ragged and at times, it seems as if director Mike Judge and his actors made up the plot as they went along. But no matter, the films quality is not to be found in the plot as much as in how it captures the small, realistic details that makes everyone hate their job. From the pointless memos to the corporate stooges, Office Space captures them all and sends them up in such a savagely hilarious way that the film serves as a wonderful catharsis for anyone whose just finished a hard day at work. Office workers will especially appreciate the scene in which Livingston and two recently laid off co-workers take revenge on an irksome xerox machine. (If not for the fact that children might be reading this review, Id quote the rap song that plays over this scene but lets just say that its impossible not to cheer as our workers get their revenge.) Judge, best known as the creator of Beavis and Butthead, directs in an offhand, almost casual manner. Theres a relaxed air about the whole affair and you get the feeling that everyone involved in the film was having a good time. Luckily, the feeling is infectous. The film is also well-acted by everyone involved. Along with Cole, Aniston, and Root, good supporting work is given by Deidrich Bader who plays Livingstons redneck neighbor. Ron Livingston is the perfect everyman lead for this film and gives a totally winning and likeable performance. With its portrait of mindless office jobs, Ikea-furnished apartments, and overly intelligent people struggling to find some way to establish some sort of individual identity in a corporate culture, Office Space at times plays like the gentler, slightly more juvenile cousin of Fight Club. Whereas Fight Club battled modern culture through violence, Office Space battles modern culture through practical jokes and whoppee cushions. Both films are must sees for anyone who has ever hated having to make a living.

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.

Ask 20- or 30-somethings about this hilarious comedy and you will be deluged by movie quotes, references, and the term a cubicle classic. Most people who have worked in an office will agree that individual scenes in this movie are among the most humorous exposés of cubicle life ever put on screen. While teens will certainly get the jokes, they probably wont identify with the situations as much as a young adult who has experienced office life. There is no doubt that creator/director Mike Judge has an uncanny eye for revealing the humorous realities and hypocrisies of office life. The banal and often inexplicable tasks that people do as well as the defeating weight of bureaucracy are mocked with dead-pan humor in a series of interviews between employees and the consultants. While some parents might find the end scenes problematic, the sketches that comprise the bulk of the movie are painfully funny observations on office life that will leave many saying too true, too true. Still, given the language and sex here, this movie is best for older teens and up.

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.

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.

1999s “Office Space” runs the absurdity of white collar employment straight up the corporate flagpole. Few satires are as timeless and widely relatable as this ode to the dehumanized workforce warrior, as its magically sketched characters and ingenious dialogue endure as reference points in water cooler conversations across the land. Inside the soul-destroying Initech Corp., wage victims grind away. Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) hates his job as much as he fears losing it, until a meeting with an “occupational hypnotherapist” frees his mind: Peter decides hes no longer going to work all that much. Yet after repeatedly coming in late or not showing up at all, two workforce consultants peg Peter as a “straight shooter” who “has upper management written all over him.” Since the films release, pre-pandemic office cubicle environments had largely given way to open-space layouts. But while the furniture has been rearranged, the truisms of “Office Space” remain fully in play. A legendary comedy movie by any definition. - (Was this review of use to you? If so, let me know by clicking Helpful. Cheers!) - WATCHED IT? THEN WATCHLIST:

Seen it more than once I love it