Product: Office Space (1999)
Rating: 5.0
This movie will change your life
"Office Space" isn't the funniest movie ever made, but it's certainly one of my favorites. Like zillions of other people, I was introduced to this movie while trapped in a miserable soul-sucking job in a dysfunctional office environment. The kind of job where I'd spend Sundays curled up on the couch in a fetal position dreading Monday ... the kind of job where I'd dread Friday nights because I knew they weren't going to last long.I wore out my VHS copy of this film years ago, so the DVD special edition got snapped up in a hurry. Some of the deleted scenes are hilarious, although the best new footage -- John C. McGinley's extended riffs on the wonder that is Michael Bolton -- is only to be found in the Mike Judge-hosted retrospective making-of feature.In your darkest moments, "Office Space" is that shining jewel that makes life bearable again. It is indeed chicken soup for the cubicled soul. It's all "about" the workplace in America in the 1990s -- the cubicle-bound middle-management culture is so brilliantly dissected. From the traffic jam in the opening scene to the soulless birthday party held for the "division VP" towards the end, to the blinding white rage of the gangsta rap soundtrack, it is so funny that you will hurt.The cast is outstanding, of course. It was shocking to find out that long-time "Cheers" barstool occupant Paul Willson was cast at the last minute; he's exactly the kind of actor you'd expect to find on the fringes of a movie like this one, so you wonder why it took so long to find him. Everyone has their personal favorites among the supporting players (McGinley & Willson, Ajay Naidu and Gary Cole all rob blind every scene they're in) but David Herman, playing "Michael Bolton", is my personal favorite. Maybe it's the short-sleeve-shirt with tie ensemble, or the printer scene, or, at long last, "Call me Mike", but there are times when I've watched "Office Space" just to identify with him and his plight.In the end, "Office Space" went from just funny to truly life-changing the moment Peter Gibbsons said that he dreamed of doing "nothing". That's it! That's the moment! That's what we all really want, deep down, after years of crushing middle-management rules, memos, and coffee cups held chest-high. Yeah. Great. Why don't you just go ahead and do that?