Office Space (1999)
Directed by Mike Judge
A depressed white-collar worker tries hypnotherapy, only to find himself in a perpetual state of devil-may-care bliss that prompts him to start living by his own rules, and hatch a hapless attempt to embezzle money from his soul-killing employers.
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What critics say influenced Office Space
He is as much "one of the crowd" as was James Murray in King Vidor's silent classic "The Crowd" more than 70 years ago.
Before Beavis and Butt-head first "huh-huh"ed, Judge threw together a bunch of "Office Space" cartoons starring Milton, a hapless white-collar worker who picked his nose a lot and got constantly trodded upon by upper management.
Office Space was written and directed by Mike Judge, who created "Beavis and Butthead" and "King of the Hill" (the humor here is more similar to the latter than the former).
Midway through, though, Judge declines to make Office Space a slacker version of Being There, instead opting for a half-assed revenge of the nerds as Peter and fellow drones Michael Bolton (David Herman; and yes, the obvious jokes on the name are made) and Samir (Ajay Naidu; and no, the obvious ethnic jokes are seldom indulged) plot a computer rip-off.
Although many films and TV shows have dealt with office politics through the years ("Working Girl," "Working") and others have played off the mechanical drudgery of "worker bee" employment and its effects on the worker ("Falling Down," "Joe Versus the Volcano," "Brazil"), the increasing depersonalization of the corporate world and its dehumanizing effects on the employees during the 1990's makes films such as this one that much more timely and easy to identify with.
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Office Space is most definitely a comedy, something like Norma Rae with a college degree and a sense of humor.
Mike Judge, who gained fame through MTV's "Beavis and Butt-Head," and made the droll animated film " Beavis and Butt-Head Do America " (1996), has taken his "SNL" Milton cartoons as an inspiration for this live-action comedy, which uses Orwellian satirical techniques to fight the cubicle police: No individual detail of office routine is too absurd to be believed, but together they add up to stark, staring insanity.
After the scatology and nasty attitude of his first film, Beavis and Butt-head Do America, Mike Judge, creator of the original TV series as well as the more genteel King of the Hill, turns surprisingly civilized in his first live-action feature.
Our protagonist is Peter Gibbons, played by Ron Livingston, who's best known for his role in the sleeper hit "Swingers."
Livingston, best known for his co-starring role in "Swingers," is wholly ingratiating as the movie's long-suffering Everyman.
Meanwhile, the main character, Peter Gibbons (played by Ron Livingston of the supporting cast of "Swingers"), doodles around as an uninspired, frustrated, wisecracking computer programmer who's become sick of his job and sterile cubicle at high-tech INITECH and especially sick of his obnoxious, smoothie-bully boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole).
The lead character, played by Ron Livingston (Swingers), is a cubicle worker, droning over preparing his company (of course, a company whose field is a mystery) for Y2K.
Based on Judge?s series of Milton animated shorts, all which played off well on Saturday Night Live back in 1993, Office Space relegates that nebbishy character to lesser, but still substantial, billing under stars Ron Livingston ( Swingers and TV?s Townies) and Friends?
Set in the fictional computer software firm Initech, "Office Space" follows several disgruntled employees, including Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston, from "Swingers"), a programmer who really hates his job.
Although many films and TV shows have dealt with office politics through the years ("Working Girl," "Working") and others have played off the mechanical drudgery of "worker bee" employment and its effects on the worker ("Falling Down," "Joe Versus the Volcano," "Brazil"), the increasing depersonalization of the corporate world and its dehumanizing effects on the employees during the 1990's makes films such as this one that much more timely and easy to identify with.