Office SpaceYou ever have one of those days where you go into work, and you just hate it? Is it every day, and it's not just a "case of the Mondays"? Every day's like that at Initech for Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), a software engineer stuck doing meaningless T.P.S. reports (don't forget that cover page), staring off into space, dreading any encounter with his "unholy", superficially friendly boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). Peter's spinning his wheels--so are his co-worker friends, the unfortunately named Michael Bolton (David Herman) and challenging named Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu). But Peter's got a plan...scratch that, his plan is, well, to do nothing.
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Office Space is a comedy which excels at highlighting the absurdities and familiar moments of frustration in our daily routine with sly irony. Moments like the rush hour commute--jammed up traffic lanes, where you can always count on being in the wrong lane, watching somebody else on a bicycle (or a walker even) pass you by. Those little tortures, like dodging your boss so you don't get recruited for mandatory overtime, or those technical frustrations--my personal favorite--like printers which jam up for no reason, eliciting tirades of profanity at the worthless piece of crap--sorry, I get a little emotional about printers...those monsters. Maybe it's that subtle power play of seating, having your desk reassigned over and over, and your favorite stapler--that red Swingline...y'know, the one that doesn't jam--confiscated by your sadistic boss which pushes you past the breaking point, arson ensuing; just another day at the office. Originally adapted from the "Milton" animated sketches from Saturday Night Live, also by director Mike Judge--famously known for, among other animated works, "Beavis and Butthead"--Office Space is really a story about the American dream, in a way. Basically, we all look back on our childhood and remember that conversation about what you want to be when you grow up--this question is broached in a different way in the movie, when Peter talks to Michael and Samir about that question of "what would you do if you had a million dollars". As kids, we tell the grown-ups that we want to be firemen, policemen, astronauts, stuff like that. But not all of us get to be them, and we find that we don't end up with those cool jobs, but end up settling because, frankly, we don't want to do anything...our dream is Peter's: sit on our butts and do nothing--that's the million dollar answer. As Peter puts it to "The Bobs" during his efficiency interview--to keep a job he no longer cares about, after his "occupational hypnotherapy" session ends with him in a kind of halfway state of total harmony--it's not that he is lazy, he "just doesn't care". We all want to find that we're doing something important with our lives, something we like or at least enjoy, but this isn't always the case. Office Space channels that frustration so many people feel, recalling the degradation of being reprimanded by eight different bosses, or the humiliation of being chewed out by a manager for "doing the bare minimum" over something as inconsequential and stupid as "pieces of flair". Joanna (Jennifer Aniston)--who Peter finally musters the courage to ask out after his "revelation"--takes Peter's gospel of "take this job and shove it", and expresses herself most eloquently in this regard to her passive-aggressive toad of a boss, also expressing that feeling so many of us have had in those kind of positions. And the pièce de résistance will always be the famous "printer scene", that perfect moment where anyone whose ever suffered a flaky--spiteful, even--printer can look on in vicarious satisfaction, cheering on the destruction of the evil object set to hardcore gangsta rap.
If Office Space just spent its hour and a half railing against the iniquities and injustices of corporate America and micromanagement, it would really just be a rehash of what so many of us have expressed after hours in an Applebee's (or Chotchkie's, or Flinger's), outside the hawkish scrutiny of our own Lumberghs and their ilk. Office Space also forces us to take a look at our commitment and our own satisfaction with what we're doing with our lives, through Peter and his new found, carefree self. His hypnosis takes away the worry, those petty anxieties which plague us and tear us down day to day--the small stuff--but his enlightenment is also short-lived. He does what he wants to do without repercussions--he even gets flagged for a promotion, in spite of the efforts of his archenemy; so why does he pursue trying to pull a computer scam to rob Initech? There's a sense of justification in it when he discovers Samir and Michael--two intelligent, hard working colleagues are going to lose their jobs--but the truth is that he is still fixated on his anger at his boss, at Lumbergh. Sure, Lumbergh is a despicable bully, who condescends with fake civility and corporate speak; but when Peter's scuzzy co-worker, Drew (Greg Pitts)--who is not known for reliable information, but cringeworthy innuendo--tells Peter that Joanna slept with "Lumbergh", Peter can't let it go, his hatred and indignation boiling over. Peter's neighbor, Lawrence (Diedrich Bader) puts it well when he tells Peter that he should find a job that he enjoys. There's a saying about square pegs and round holes, and the thing is that Peter really doesn't like his job; the fact that it is also a soulless corporation run by opportunistic yuppies doesn't help anything, but only turns out to be a convenient excuse for Peter's frustration and justification for his anger. In the end, Peter finds comfort doing something else; it probably pays less, but it's clear that he's moved on to something which is really better for him. It wasn't hypnosis which was the cure, just the catalyst to get the ball rolling, and maybe that's the real work-life balance Peter really needed. And here's hoping that Milton got that piece of cake and Mai Tai; if not, stay away from the guacamole.
Recommended for: Fans of of a funny, ironic comedy about work, with those identifiable moments which ring all-too true, and for fans who have always had that itch to scratch to park in the reserved spot or kick down that wall of the cubicle and get a better view of the great outdoors...even if it is just the parking lot.
If Office Space just spent its hour and a half railing against the iniquities and injustices of corporate America and micromanagement, it would really just be a rehash of what so many of us have expressed after hours in an Applebee's (or Chotchkie's, or Flinger's), outside the hawkish scrutiny of our own Lumberghs and their ilk. Office Space also forces us to take a look at our commitment and our own satisfaction with what we're doing with our lives, through Peter and his new found, carefree self. His hypnosis takes away the worry, those petty anxieties which plague us and tear us down day to day--the small stuff--but his enlightenment is also short-lived. He does what he wants to do without repercussions--he even gets flagged for a promotion, in spite of the efforts of his archenemy; so why does he pursue trying to pull a computer scam to rob Initech? There's a sense of justification in it when he discovers Samir and Michael--two intelligent, hard working colleagues are going to lose their jobs--but the truth is that he is still fixated on his anger at his boss, at Lumbergh. Sure, Lumbergh is a despicable bully, who condescends with fake civility and corporate speak; but when Peter's scuzzy co-worker, Drew (Greg Pitts)--who is not known for reliable information, but cringeworthy innuendo--tells Peter that Joanna slept with "Lumbergh", Peter can't let it go, his hatred and indignation boiling over. Peter's neighbor, Lawrence (Diedrich Bader) puts it well when he tells Peter that he should find a job that he enjoys. There's a saying about square pegs and round holes, and the thing is that Peter really doesn't like his job; the fact that it is also a soulless corporation run by opportunistic yuppies doesn't help anything, but only turns out to be a convenient excuse for Peter's frustration and justification for his anger. In the end, Peter finds comfort doing something else; it probably pays less, but it's clear that he's moved on to something which is really better for him. It wasn't hypnosis which was the cure, just the catalyst to get the ball rolling, and maybe that's the real work-life balance Peter really needed. And here's hoping that Milton got that piece of cake and Mai Tai; if not, stay away from the guacamole.
Recommended for: Fans of of a funny, ironic comedy about work, with those identifiable moments which ring all-too true, and for fans who have always had that itch to scratch to park in the reserved spot or kick down that wall of the cubicle and get a better view of the great outdoors...even if it is just the parking lot.