Product: Office Space (1999)
Rating: 5.0
If You Could Watch This, That Would Be Great...
Despite its status as a modern "cult classic" and its frequent replays on cable TV, many people have still not seen Office Space, one of the funniest movies of the 1990s. Written by Mike Judge (best known for his television work on Beavis & Butthead and King of the Hill), Office Space is a spot-on spoof of what it is like to work in corporate America at the end of the twentieth century. Ron Livingston plays a Peter Gibboons, a young professional at a software company who is utterly drained by his Dilbert-like existence. During a hypnotherapy session, he expresses a phrase which crystallizes the work-life of hundreds of thousands of Americans: "ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life."In notable supporting roles are: Jennifer Aniston as Peter Gibbons' girlfriend who works as a waitress in a vaguely familiar restaurant where "flair" is more important than service; Stephen Root as Milton, the useless, overlooked, middle-aged employee who no one has the guts to fire; Gary Cole as passive-aggressive VP Bill Lumbergh, whom Livingston's Gibbons rightly declares "represents all that is soulless and wrong;" Diedrich Bader as Lawrence, Livingston's crude, simple next door neighbor that ultimately shows Gibbons the path to self-fulfillment; and John C. McGinley as one of the Bobs, consultants who have been called in to put a band-aid on the company's problems by doing a time and labor study.Some of the film's cruder moments with Lawrence & office colleague Drew hearken back to Judge's B&B days, but overall, this is an insightful & wildly entertaining movie that manages to crystallize into 89 minutes the dehumanizing effect corporate America has had on American culture around the turn of the millennium. Not only does the film speak satirical volumes about corporate America, but it also has great insight into the way human beings respond when they are marginalized and subjugated, particularly the liberation that retaliation brings.As for the DVD itself, one can only hope that Fox will someday release this masterpiece in a better edition. The opening menu pops up with an error message that your computer has a virus, a joke that is not funny under any circumstances. The only special feature on the disc is the theatrical trailer. Most blatantly absent is a commentary track from the mastermind, director, and uncredited actor in this comedic tour de force. Fox execs need to give Mike Judge's masterpiece the treatment it deserves and give its many fans the goodies they desire.