Office Space


Starring Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole, Stephen Root, David Herman, Ajay Naidu. Directed by Mike Judge.

Peter Gibbons (Livingston) really hates work. He is sick of commuting in long, slow traffic jams. He hates listening to his condescending, unfeeling boss Bill Lumbergh (Cole) who cares about such unimportant things as what kind of paper is on the front of a report. His cheating girlfriend is unhappy with his lack of ambition, and takes him to an occupational hypnotist. But the therapy makes Peter incredibly relaxed. And she dumps him, which makes him even more relaxed. He no longer cares about work, almost wanting to be fired. He starts sleeping late, skipping whole days, and wearing casual clothes to work all the time. And he decides to ask a waitress from a nearby hamburger joint Joanna (Aniston) to go out with him, a fellow worker who hates her job too.
Unfortunately, some efficiency experts have arrived to engage in some corporate downsizing. They interview all the employees in the office. They find one employee (Milton), pretty close to snapping because the company took his cherished Swingline stapler, was actually laid off 5 years ago, but no one told him or payroll, and he's continued working there ever since. In an attempt to speed up the firing process, Peter basically admits to not working much and not being that motivated at work. Instead of getting fired, he's promoted, while his two competent and hard-working friends (Hermana, Naidu) are both canned. They hatch a plan to get even.

Director Judge created Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill. I didn't think much of the former, but I like the latter. Fortunately, Office Space is more like the latter. Judge aims for more subtle satire, and it is surprisingly low key, which generally works but leads to a few slow points in the film. The best parts involve activities in the office. The rows and rows of look-alike cubicles. Hawaiin shirt Friday as an effort to distract from the boredom of the job. The moronic efficiency experts who callously fire people without a second thought in an effort to boost the stock price up a few points to make management's stock options more valuable. The wanton distruction of a jamming fax machine that spews out the meaningless phrase "PC Load Letter" whenever something goes wrong with it. Which is all the time. The funny parts are contained in the satire, and not in the jokes, but the film could have used more of both.

The performances vary. Cole is excellent as the bloodless, oily boss who gives orders in a fake-friendly, studied calm way. Aniston is as good as I've seen her on the big screen, completely believable as the naive, easy-going waitress. And Root, of NewsRadio fame, is almost unrecognizable as the ultra-dweeb who couldn't express himself if he tried. Which he often does. Livingston is partially responsible for some of the lethargic tone of some scenes, often appearing dozy and spacey, even after his relaxed state was supposed to have warn off. But all of us who work in an office can recognize bosses like Lumbergh, change for the sake of change to make the bosses feel they're doing something. Office Space does a generally good job of illustrating many of the stupidities that exist in today's work environment.




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