Product: Office Space (1999)
Rating: 5.0
One of the funniest flix I have ever seen RE the alienated worker theme . . .
A delightfully funny and heart warming romantic comedy (with emphasis on comedy) which was the first time I saw Ron Livingston acting; he plays Peter Gibbons. He is extremely funny as a somewhat pathetic and alienated office worker (computer programmer) who is used and abused by the computer software company he works for as is his two friends.After a botches hypnosis session that is supposed to make Peter content with his life as a computer programmer but instead emboldens him to live his life completely disregarding any consequences regarding his work (like fishing instead of working, sleeping in until 11:00 am then showing up for work for a few hours and then leaving), "consultants" advise him that his two buddies, fellow programmers Michael Botton (David Herman) and Samir (Ajay Naidu), two of the best programmers and most senior employees will be fired to save money by outsourcing their programming to India. Peter convinces his two friends help him defraud the company they work for at the rate of few pennies a day using a computer virus designed by David so that after several years they will have a tidy nest egg in savings.Peter, thanks to the hypnosis session, finds the boldness he previously lacked and begins dating Joanna (Jennifer Aniston); quickly they fall in love. Unfortunately, his romance is interrupted when he checks how Michael's virus is working. In one day, the computer program that should have collected a couple pennies collects over a $100,000.Faced with certain discovery, Peter's friendship with Samir and Michael as well as his romance with Joanna are shattered, and Peter plans to turn himself in while taking all the blame for the crime so that his friends will remain free.While on the way to the police and jail, Peter notices a fire (set by a different disgruntled employee) that burns down the computer company he works for, thus destroying all the incriminating accounting documents that might trace him to the crime; BTW, the money is also destroyed by the fire.This intended act of self-sacrifice regains the friendship of Samir and Michael, as well as the respect of Joanna. Thus, Peter is saved from jail, is reunited with his love, and regains the friendship of his two closest friends.This rather low budget film I found tastefully funny, relevant to contemporary feelings of alienation and hostility to companies out to make money at the expense of exploiting employees, and full of well written script and interesting and original plot.I heartily recommend it to film fans of comedy and/or romantic comedy.