OFFICE SPACE (1999)
…and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set this review on fire...
In this one, Peter Gibbons (played by Ron Livingston) works at a company called IniTech that is doing upgrades to computer software for the move to the year 2000, he hates his job. This was back when the year 2000 was actually a concern for companies that were heavily involved in computers. Peter goes to a counseling session with his girlfriend and the therapist ends up dying shortly after putting Peter under hypnosis or whatever. He gains a crazy amount of confidence and decides to stop working which has massive consequences and benefits for him, and his best friends, who are two software engineers Michael Bolton and Samir Nagheenanajar, that also hate IniTech. Both Peter’s friends are part of cuts that are coming to the company. Peter who just sucks at work, and has decided to do nothing there, comes up with a plan to help his friends do nothing as well. I mean, don’t we all aspire to do nothing at work? Kidding, kidding.
This is one of the few roles I don’t like Jennifer Anniston in as Joanna (who ends up being Peter’s girlfriend), but the rest of the cast and characters are pretty great. Diedrich Bader (who plays Lawrence the next-door neighbor to Peter) is epic in this but isn’t it a ton. He’s been in seemingly millions of things, but I remember him most from his role as Rex, in NAPOLEON DYNAMITE.
If you have ever seen this, there are so many funny lines in this movie you can quote it for days. It’s far from PC for today’s audience, but man on man is this thing hilarious especially if you have ever worked in an office. Some of the characters are so memorable they are iconic. Staplers have even been coming out for years celebrating the “my stapler” quotes from Milton (played by Stephen Root). My favorite role for Root is in BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER as the principal, but this one is by far his second best. There is also an epic scene involving a printer, which should resonate with anyone that can handle a lot of profanity and hates printers.
Director Mike Judge was also responsible for the animated creations, Beavis and Butthead and King Of The Hill. Overall this flick bombed at the box office, but gained such a huge following on DVD, it ended up making more money than other movies FOX did, that had better box office performances. For those that can handle quite a bit of cussing and a bit of dark comedy, this movie is a full-blown blast. There are a few scenes I wish they had just left out, that really didn’t bring any value to the movie, and a few things I think they could have done better, but for the most part this is a really fun watch.
Just for a few of the drop-on-the-ground and die-laughing scenes, I have to give OFFICE SPACE at least a 6 out of 7. Even just the opening few scenes are better than a lot of what passes for comedy now.
GRAPHICS ARE THE PROPERTY OF TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX AND ARE USED FOR REVIEW PURPOSES ONLY.
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