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Office Space
Theatrical poster
Directed byMike Judge
Written byMike Judge
Produced byDaniel Rappaport
Michael Rotenberg
StarringRon Livingston
Jennifer Aniston
David Herman
Ajay Naidu
Diedrich Bader
Gary Cole
Stephen Root
John C. McGinley
CinematographyTim Suhrstedt
Edited byDavid Rennie
Music byJohn Frizzell
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release date
February 19, 1999
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$10,000,000 (estimated)
Box office$10,827,813

Office Space is a 1999 American comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge. It satirizes work life in a typical 1990s software company, focusing on a handful of individuals who are fed up with their jobs. The film's sympathetic portrayal of ordinary IT workers garnered it a cult following among those in that profession, but the film also addresses themes familiar to office workers and white collar employees in general. It was filmed in Dallas and Austin, Texas.

Office Space is based on the Milton series of cartoons created by Mike Judge. Office Space was Mike Judge's foray into live action film and his second full length motion picture release (the first being the animated Beavis and Butt-head Do America). The promotional campaign for Office Space often associated it with Beavis and Butt-head, leading audiences to expect the brand of humor of the creator's previous animated efforts rather than the relatively low-key ironic humor of the film.

While not a box office success, the film has become a cult classic; it has since sold very well on VHS and DVD.

Plot

The film is centered on a group of software engineers working at Initech, a company plagued by excessive management. Much of the film's plot involves everyday annoyances of office work in a cube farm setting evocative of the Dilbert comic strip.

Peter Gibbons is a disgruntled programmer at Initech. Peter spends his days "staring at his desk" instead of reprogramming bank software for the then-expected Y2K disaster. His co-workers include Samir Nagheenanajar, who is annoyed by the fact that nobody can pronounce his last name correctly; Michael Bolton, who loathes having the same name as the famous singer, whom he hates; and Milton Waddams, a meek, fixated collator who constantly mumbles to himself (most notably about his workmates borrowing his favorite red Swingline stapler). All four are repeatedly bullied and harassed by management, especially Initech's callous vice president, Bill Lumbergh. The staff are further agitated by the arrival of two consultants, informally known as "The Bobs" since they share the same first name, who are brought in to help with cutting expenses, mainly through downsizing.

Peter is depressed, bored, and pushed around at work. He attends an occupational hypnotherapy session urged upon him by his girlfriend, Anne. The obese hypnotherapist, Dr. Swanson, suddenly dies of a heart attack before he can snap Peter out of a state of complete relaxation. The newly relaxed and still half-hypnotized Peter wakes up the next morning and ignores continued calls from Anne (who confesses to cheating and leaves him) and Lumbergh (who was expecting Peter to work over the weekend). Peter announces that he will simply not go to work anymore, instead pursuing his lifelong dream of "doing nothing," and asks out Joanna, a waitress who shares Peter's loathing of idiotic management and love of the television program Kung Fu. Joanna works at Chotchkie's, a restaurant that plays on TGI Friday's interior decoration and uniform standards (Joanna's hatred for her occupation eventually culminates in an argument with her boss and her being fired after she gives him the finger).

Peter then begins removing items at work that exemplify his unhappiness (inspirational banners, a wall of his cubicle that blocks his view, and a fax machine that is prone to constant errors) and takes Lumbergh's parking spot. Despite Peter's poor attendance record, laziness and insubordination at work, he is promoted by the Bobs because of the positive impression he leaves upon them with his earnestness and his bluntness about problems within the office.. Meanwhile, Michael and Samir are downsized, seemingly a symptom of the disposability with which the consultants view most Initech employees. To exact revenge on Initech, the three friends decide to infect the accounting system with a computer virus, designed to divert fractions of pennies into a bank account they control. A misplaced decimal point causes the virus to steal over $300,000 in the first few days, a far more conspicuous loss to Initech. After a crisis of conscience and a discussion with Joanna, Peter writes a letter in which he takes all the blame for the crime, then slips an envelope containing the letter and the money (in unsigned traveler's checks) under the door of Lumbergh's office late one night.

He fully expects to be arrested the next morning, but his problem solves itself: Milton, after getting his stapler taken away by Lumbergh, being increasingly ignored, having to move to the cockroach-infested basement, and not receiving any more paychecks, finally snaps and sets fire to the Initech office building, having warned several times throughout the film that he would do so (Milton had actually been laid off years earlier; nobody told him, and he continued to come in to work and get paid due to a payroll glitch). Peter finally finds a job that he likes: doing construction work with his next door neighbor, Lawrence. Samir and Michael get jobs at Intertrode, a rival company. While helping haul away the rubble from the fire, Peter finds Milton's stapler and keeps it, saying "I think I know someone who might want this".

The last scene of the movie shows that Milton has made his way to a resort in Mexico with the money Peter left in Lumbergh's office. Milton is still not happy; he threatens to shut down the entire resort because he is displeased with his drink.

Cast

Actor Role Notes
Ron Livingston Peter Gibbons Main protagonist - Disgruntled computer programmer working for Initech.
Jennifer Aniston Joanna Peter's prospective girlfriend
Gary Cole Bill Lumbergh Peter's main boss and main antagonist
David Herman Michael Bolton Peter's co-worker and friend
Ajay Naidu Samir Nagheenanajar Peter's co-worker and friend
Alexandra Wentworth Anne Peter's cheating girlfriend
Stephen Root Milton Waddams Meek obsessive Initech employee; mumbles a lot
Richard Riehle Tom Smykowski Useless Initech employee
Diedrich Bader Lawrence Peter's wise, construction-worker, next-door neighbor
Jenn Emerson Female Temp Super-happy "case of the Mondays" girl
Paul Willson Bob Porter Consultant
John C. McGinley Bob Slydell Consultant
Kinna McInroe Nina Initech employee
Todd Duffey Brian Chotchkie's employee
Greg Pitts Drew Initech employee (the "O-face guy")
Mike McShane Dr. Swanson Peter's "occupational hypnotherapist" who dies in his first session.
Linda Wakeman Laura Smykowski Tom's wife
Kyle Scott Jackson Rob Newhouse Tom's lawyer
Carolyn Cauley Initech Employee (Uncredited)
Orlando Jones Steve Door-to-door magazine salesman
Barbara George-Reiss Peggy Lumbergh's secretary
Mike Judge Stan Manager of Chotchkie's (credited pseudonymously as "William King")
Jack Betts The Judge Appears in a dream to sentence Peter's friends to prison and rule Peter himself "a very bad person".
John Cauley Initech Employee (Uncredited)

Artie Lange also auditioned for the role of Milton.[1] He describes his audition as being so bad it was "like a plumber who won a radio contest and got to try out for a movie".

Production

Filmed primarily in Austin, Texas, the origins for Office Space lie in a series of four animated short films about an office drone named Milton that Mike Judge created, which first aired on Liquid Television and Night After Night with Allan Havey, and later aired on Saturday Night Live.[2] The inspiration came from a temp job he once had that involved alphabetizing purchase orders[3] and a job he had as an engineer for three months in the Bay Area during the 1980s, "just in the heart of Silicon Valley and in the middle of that overachiever yuppie thing, it was just awful".[4] The setting of the film reflected a prevailing trend that Judge observed in the United States. "It seems like every city now has these identical office parks with identical adjoining chain restaurants", he said in an interview.[2] He remembers, "There were a lot of people who wanted me to set this movie in Wall Street, or like the movie Brazil, but I wanted it very unglamorous, the kind of bleak work situation like I was in".[3]

Judge sold the film to 20th Century Fox based on his script and a cast that included Jennifer Aniston, Ron Livingston, and David Herman.[2] Originally, the studio wanted to make a movie out of the Milton character but Judge was not interested, opting instead to make more of an ensemble cast–based film.[4] The studio suggested he make a movie like Car Wash but "just set in an office".[4] Judge made the relatively painless transition from animation to live-action with the help of the film's director of photography who taught him about lenses and where to put the camera. Judge says, "I had a great crew, and it's good going into it not pretending you're an expert".[3] Studio executives were not happy with the footage Judge was getting. He remembers them telling him, "More energy! More energy! We gotta reshoot it! You're failing! You're failing!"[5] In addition, Fox did not like the gangsta rap music used in the film until a focus group approved of it. Judge hated the ending and felt that a complete rewrite of the third act was necessary.[5]

Judge also hated the poster that the studio created for Office Space. He said, "People were like, 'What is this? A big bird? A mummy? A beekeeper?' And the tagline 'Work Sucks'? It looked like an Office Depot ad. I just hated it. I hated the trailers, too and the TV ads especially".[5] Fox Filmed Entertainment chairman Tom Rothman conceded that the marketing campaign did not work and said, "Office Space isn't like American Pie. It doesn't have the kind of jokes you put in a 15-second television spot of somebody getting hit on the head with a frying pan. It's sly. And let me tell you, sly is hard to sell".[5]

Reception

Office Space was released on February 19, 1999 in 1,740 theatres, grossing USD $4.2 million on its opening weekend. It went on to make $10.8 million in North America[6] On the Monday after the opening weekend, Judge received a phone call from Jim Carrey's agent. The comedian loved the film and wanted to meet him. Chris Rock called two weeks later.[5]

The film received positive reviews[5] with an 80% "Certified Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and 68 metascore on Metacritic. In his review in the New York Times, Stephen Holden wrote, "It has the loose-jointed feel of a bunch of sketches packed together into a narrative that doesn't gather much momentum".[7] Roger Ebert gave the film three out of four stars and wrote that Judge, "treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques".[8] In his review for the San Francisco Chronicle, Mick LaSalle writes, "Livingston is nicely cast as Peter, a young guy whose imagination and capacity for happiness are the very things making him miserable".[9] In the USA Today, Susan Wloszczyna wrote, "If you've ever had a job, you'll be amused by this paean to peons".[10]

However, Owen Gleiberman in Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "C" rating and criticized it for feeling "cramped and underimagined".[11] In his review for the Globe and Mail, Rick Groen wrote, "Perhaps his TV background makes him unaccustomed to the demands of a feature-length script (the ending seems almost panicky in its abruptness); or maybe he just succumbs to the lure of the easy yuk . . . what began as discomfiting satire soon devolves into silly farce".[12]

In 2008, Entertainment Weekly named Office Space one of the "The 100 best films from 1983 to 2008", ranking it at #73.[13]

Legacy

Office Space has become a cult classic, selling very well on home video.[14] As of 2003, it had sold 2.6 million copies on VHS and DVD.[15] In the same year, it was in the top 20 best-selling Fox DVDs along with There's Something About Mary.[16] The movie is also available on Blu-ray.

Comedy Central premiered Office Space on August 5, 2001 and 1.4 million viewers tuned in. By 2003, the channel had broadcast the film another 33 times.[16] These broadcasts helped develop the film's cult following and Ron Livingston remembers being approached by college students and office workers. He said, "I get a lot of people who say, 'I quit my job because of you.' That's kind of a heavy load to carry".[16] People approached Stephen Root asking him to sign their staplers. The Red Swingline stapler featured prominently in the film was not available until April 2002 when the company released it in response to repeated requests by fans of Office Space.[16] Entertainment Weekly ranked it fifth on its list "25 Great Comedies From the Past 25 Years", despite having originally given the film a poor review.[17] On February 8, 2009, a reunion of the cast took place at the Paramount Theatre in Austin to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the movie, which included the destruction of a fax machine on the sidewalk.[18]

Soundtrack

Untitled

Track listing

  1. "Shove This Jay-Oh-Bee" (Canibus/Biz Markie) - 4:21
  2. "Get Dis Money" (Slum Village) - 3:36
  3. "Get Off My Elevator" (Kool Keith) - 3:46
  4. "Big Boss Man" (Junior Reid) - 3:46
  5. "9-5" (Lisa Stone) - 3:40
  6. "Down for Whatever" (Ice Cube) - 4:40
  7. "Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta" (Geto Boys) - 5:09
  8. "Home" (Blackman/Destruct/Icon) - 4:22
  9. "No Tears" (Scarface) - 2:27
  10. "Still" (Geto Boys) - 4:03
  11. "Mambo #8" (Perez Prado) - 2:06
  12. "All that Meat and No Potatoes" (Louis Armstrong) - 5:13
  13. "Peanut Vendor" (Perez Prado) - 2:39

See also

PC LOAD LETTER error, parodied in Office Space

References

  1. ^ Tallerico, Brian. "Artie Lange's Beer League DVD Review". UGO.com. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  2. ^ a b c Fierman, Daniel (February 26, 1999). "Judge's Dread". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2007-08-16. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. ^ a b c Beale, Lewis (February 21, 1999). "Mr. Beavis Goes to Work". Daily News. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. ^ a b c Sherman, Paul (February 21, 1999). "Humorist is a good Judge of office angst". Boston Herald. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e f Valby, Karen (May 23, 2003). "The Fax of Life". Entertainment Weekly. p. 41. Retrieved 2008-12-05. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  6. ^ "Office Space". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-09-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  7. ^ Holden, Stephen (February 19, 1999). "One Big Happy Family? No, Not At This Company". New York Times. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  8. ^ Ebert, Roger (February 19, 1999). "Office Space". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2008-09-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  9. ^ LaSalle, Mick (February 19, 1999). "Workers' Souls Lost In Space". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2008-09-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  10. ^ Wioszczyna, Susan (February 19, 1999). "No Frills Office Party". USA Today. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  11. ^ Gleiberman, Owen (March 5, 1999). "Office Space". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-09-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  12. ^ Groen, Rick (February 19, 1999). "Workplace satire almost does the job". Globe and Mail. Retrieved 2008-09-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  13. ^ "The New Classics: Movies". Entertainment Weekly. June 16, 2008. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
  14. ^ Doty, Meriah (March 4, 2003). "Film flops flourish on DVD, VHS". CNN. Retrieved 2008-09-18. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  15. ^ Valby 2003, p. 39.
  16. ^ a b c d Valby 2003, p. 42.
  17. ^ "The Comedy 25: The Funniest Movies of the Past 25 Years". Entertainment Weekly. August 27, 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-27. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  18. ^ ""Office Space" Turns 10". KTBC. February 8, 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-08.
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