Review CXXXIV - Office Space

Review 134
Office Space (1999)

There are some films you watch once and vow to never watch them again, and there are others that you could watch dozens of times. Apart from my holiday viewing of Withnail & I which you all know about, I always catch myself watching Mike Judge's Office Space starring Ron Livingston, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, and Jennifer Aniston, every few years. I remember my friend showing it to me back in elementary school, the meaning probably completely lost on me. But somehow its comedic-yet-tragic tone stuck with me, as years later in high school, I watched it again. I think I watched it again at some point in my post-graduate studies, but after searching for something to watch, I suggested that my boyfriend and I check out the beloved classic. In the end, he confused it with Falling Down, which I never saw, but apparently he had seen it anyway... Roll the tape!

Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) hates his job - seriously. His bosses, particular Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole), are atrocious, the job is demotivating, and he is reduced to a rat in a cage. His attempts at following the norm fail, but after visiting a hypnotherapist who proceeds to die midway through a hypnosis, Peter comes up with a plan. Following his colleagues, Michael Bolton (David Herman) and Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu), they plan to steal the plot of Superman III by taking money no one will miss.

I mean, already you know that I like Office Space since I've watched it over and over again. The reality is, the film isn't historic, the film isn't a masterpiece, but I think that's what makes it so great. The movie really shows the life of a man who can't just accept his shitty working conditions. He can't accept that companies will fire dozens, hundreds, thousands of employees just to raise a stock. Bref, he can't live the way modern society exists today. Companies used to care about their employees, and they used to legitimately care about the well being of their workers. Now, given our throw-away culture, it is not surprising to see how a company (or any job, really) will attempt to put more work on a reduced number of workers in order to save bucks in the long run. I'm new to the job force, but from others around me, it is not always the case, but it definitely happens. And I see this as such an important message - we're raised to work, not to enjoy life. Of course work is a necessity; I would never advocate sitting on your ass and doing nothing because that isn't healthy. But some people don't fit that mold, and honestly, I wouldn't want to work a desk top with TPS reports... Honestly, eff software engineers, hehe (my boyfriend is a software engineer, so I'm actually not hating).

So while Office Space resorts to a clear message, it is still fun. You still get laughs out of it. The film is really not stupendous - the acting is usually mediocre and kind of... weird - but its message is clear and I still find myself returning to it. Check it out - if only for the crazed loner (Stephen Root) and awesome neighbour (Diedrich Bader).