Product: Office Space (1999)
Rating: 5.0
Wow, I hate my job...
I doubt I can extol this film in any original manner, but I'll give it a shot anyway. Obviously I love Office Space. Would I be wasting a pretty good beer buzz otherwise? The only people I can conceive of disliking Office Space are company presidents, CEO's and complete morons. But, being part of America's office-working automata (and not being a moron), I can relate. I could go on all day about the great jokes, great soundtrack and great characters, but these aren't what make this movie truly great. As paradoxical as it may seem, Mike Judge's true stroke of genius was making a movie that speaks to the majority. Most movies are either fantasies, portrayals of the ultra-elite, or simply gross exaggerations by studio execs of the audience's point of view. For example, movies like The Lord of the Rings are fantasies, where any connection to the viewers' lives is purely metaphorical. Most romantic comedies involve the super-rich and/or the super-attractive, and any romantic struggles these people encounter come off insincere. Finally there are movies like 40 Days and 40 Nights, where some jaded producer thought he could play to the audience's own sexual longings by portraying a protagonist who goes a whole month without intercourse. Right. How many of us can't relate to the anguish of going a month without sex? Call it 40 Score Days and 40 Score Nights and I might begin to take interest. But back to Office Space. This movie appeals to most of us: lazy, underappreciated, unattractive people who hate their jobs and curse at office machines. All of us have felt like Peter Gibbons at one time or another. And this somehow makes our jobs slightly more tolerable, knowing that we're not alone in the corporate dirge. Peter is our hero, our messiah. We all wish we could come to work late, leave early, ignore our boss, dress down, and rip the company off big time...big time. Before this movie, there was no model, no one to show us the way. And, even though few of us will ever reach the level of enlightenment that Peter has, at least we can dream.... Pass out at our cubicles and dream.