Product: Office Space (1999)
Rating: 5.0
Surprisingly Funny
This movie made an almost "psychic" connection with me... the first time I saw it, I had just come home from my nightmare job -- many of the same things depicted in the movie had happened to me that very day, including the printer jam with that exact message "Error - PC Load Letter", while trying to print a report that was already late (what the heck does that message mean, anyway?!).I related so well to this movie's honest, astute, and technically correct observations of office culture in the 90's, that the brilliantly original bits of commedy were almost incidental to me (I must have annoyed the heck out of my wife with outbursts like "Oh my GOD, that's so TRUE!" every two minutes). I caught some of the more subtle humor in subsequent viewings.I'll admit, the movie lost its hold on me about 2/3 in, when the main character (who had by this time become an icon to me with his new found "no fear of consequences" attitude) took a strange criminal direction, and his angst began to return. This seemed to break the consistancy. I wan't too thrilled with Jenifer Aniston's performance either, although I suppose that had more to do with her script. In any case, the second time I watched the move, none of this bothered me as much.I've since purchased the DVD, and have worn this disk out playing it for friends. I'll never get tired of this movie... even the sound track makes me laugh. It's a wonder that it didn't get better reviews, although I guess one really would have had to have experienced office politics in the 90's to fully relate (I wonder when was the last time in the 90's that Ebert heard, "Don't forget to fill in your timesheets!")Some reviewers gave it low ratings claiming that it was "lightweight"... okay, so it's no Citizen Kane, but it certainly doesn't claim to be either! Give it credit for what it is -- as a lighthearted observational commedy, it's brilliant. And that's not to say that it was a total no-brainer either... on an intelligence level, I'd rate it much higher than say... any movie ever made by the Fairley Brothers (and certainly much lower on the "obnoxious bathroom humor"-scale).It's a pretty sad testiment to the intelligence of the average North American that movies like "Me, Myself, and Irene" brought in more money than Office Space. I hope Mike Judge doesn't let this stop him from creating another gem.