it was only a matter of time before a dilbert - esque office comedy hit the screens .
however , rather than coming from dilbert creator scott adams , office space is instead based on the work of another animator , mike judge , creator of beavis and butthead and king of the hill .
in his live - action directoral debut , judge
aptly spoofs corporate culture .
the story is certainly not very involved , but there is plenty of truth and humor to fill the gaps .
peter ( ron livingston ) is a programmer working at the initech corporation .
every day in his mundane life is worse than the one before .
. . in other words , every day is the worst day in his entire life .
he 's stuck in a boring job with eight different supervisors , all obsessed with administrative trivialities .
he 's smitten with joanna ( jennifer aniston ) , a local waitress , but has n't the guts to even introduce himself .
everything has simply made him a complete , nervous wreck .
but all of that changes when , after an unintentionally over - effective visit to a hypnotherapist , peter loses all of his inhibitions .
he realizes his lifelong dream : to do absolutely nothing .
he begins to blatantly disregard the nonsensical instructions of his boss , bill lumbergh ( gary cole ) , doing whatever he feels like .
peter 's friends and co - workers , samir ( ajay naidu ) and michael bolton ( david herman ) . . .
no , not that michael bolton , are perplexed by their friend 's sudden change in attitude .
but , they have larger things to worry about : rumors about that initech is about to begin downsizing . . . as bleak as much of this sounds , let me assure you that office space is a comedy , and quite a funny one .
although it shares the same absurdist office humor of the dilbert comic strip , office space is actually based loosely on the series of milton cartoons which aired on saturday night life .
each mundane detail , taken by itself , seems completely , regrettably , plausible .
yet , when combined into a whole , the picture which results is absolutely surreal .
ron livingston tackles his role straight - faced , and becomes much funnier because of it .
his character is n't simply being a clown lampooning around the office , but rather seems possessed by a zen - like clarity .
he is operating on a higher plane , where everything suddenly makes sense , and from this vantage point , he allows the audience to smirk at the absurdities of life .
anyone who has had to deal with the inefficiencies of corporate bureaucracy , or who has ever been frustrated with the technology of modern life , will recognize many of the characters and situations in the film .
in fact , in addition to being wildly humorous , the film may actually prove to be cathartic .
the animated roots of office space show in the film 's lack of complexity .
most of the characters in the film can be quickly summarized by a particular personality quirk .
one employee , milton ( stephen root ) , is practically a flesh - and - blood cartoon .
however , despite their simple nature , the characters still manage to be surprisingly funny .
it 's not required to have a corporate background to enjoy this film ( though the situations may seem exceedingly far - fetched if you are unfamiliar with just how close to reality they really are ) .
the film is flimsy and absurd , but also very funny .
Output: P