'OFFICE SPACE' - 1999Directed by Mike JudgeStarring ​Ron Livingston, Jennifer Anniston and Gary Cole​ Plot Overview: After mindless working drone Peter Gibbons(Ron Livingston) gets hypnotised, forgetting all his worries, him and a group of recently fired friends batch together to steal money from their former company, a fraction of a penny at a time.I mean this film isn't bad. It is fine. But only that. The balance between hits and misses is exactly that, a balance. Some jokes emit laughter while equally as many emit cringe. It isn't a good movie by any means but it also isn't a bad movie. I don't think I've ever seen a movie I can legitimately call perfectly average apart from this. It is just average. I don't know what else I can say to sum it up.Let's start off positive. The story is good. I like it, and I like the fact that it is designed to be a satirical comment on office jobs. It's an interesting idea that was executed with mild effectiveness. It's a plain and simple story but I admire the simplicity to it. Purely character driven is a good thing and definitely made the movie feel more realistic and plausible. ​ I really love the ending. It is a consequence of a previous joke and it is so, so cathartic.Ron Livingtston was good in the movie as Peter Gibbons. Gary Cole was great as Bill Lumbergh. Yeah... he was a perfectly loathsome antagonist and did his job very well... M'Kay. Stepjem Root was great as Milton. I was disappointed in Anniston's performance and I just saw her as a run of the mill, generic love interest. She wasn't appealing or interesting. Aside from them four, the performances ranged from mediocre to poor.It is a competently shot and edited. It is very simplistic and I admire that in a way. It is very cathartic and requires little analysis. This peculiar style fits in with the more relaxed, laid back attitude of the film and it's lead.Mow for the humour. The MOST crucial aspect of a Comedy film, is its humour. And I must confess I was disappointed. Not to say there were no funny or clever jokes, there most certainly were and when it was both clever and witty, it succeeded exponentially. But the great jokes aren't that frequent. They come occasionally amidst a slog of poor, bland and generic humour. This was the key downfall of the film for me. I was not amused.As a whole, I do definitely admire the simplicity of everything about this movie and find it very cathartic and in line with the film's plot but it just didn't provide enough for me to truly enjoy it. I can VERY cautiously recommend this movie because it isn't awful; it just isn't that good either. I'll rate this film 5 'Staplers' out of 10 and a very mild recommendation because you may get more enjoyment out of it than I did.

Almost everyone has experienced the agony of the daily commute until it becomes pure mockery like Peter Gibbons' morning drive, slowly progressing inch by inch, 'racing' the old man on the sidewalk in a walker, taking the initiative to switch lanes only to find that it is the other lane that is advancing. Peter signs almost knowingly, defeated, accepting that this is the universe's will and how it is laughing at him. The company he works at, Initech, is a glorious mess. Two separate supervisors come with news of the same issue, highlighting how nobody really knows what their role is (later, in a scene of such piercing comedy and discomfort, a long time worker has trouble explaining exactly what he does for the company). They drone on with those same corporate sayings: "Looks like somebody's got a case of the Mondays!", in a tone that is much too cheery for Mondays. The colleagues are made up of colourful personalities that include a bright red parrot and what is basically a cave troll on a glitched payroll. The boss of the joint strolls by every other minute and checks the locks on the cubicles, and lengthens sentences with a dry, entirely too self-satisfied tone (the irony is that we never see him do any work either). But this is all okay, because Friday is Hawaiian shirt day and this will definitely provoke excitement and more importantly, a feeling of urgency and motivation to get those reports in. On a smaller level Judge also extends these critiques to the retail world, so that even the smallest restaurant is not immune from this corporate soul-sucking logic. Joanna must wear no less than 15 items of what is officially called 'flair', although this is perceived to be the minimum required in a thinly veiled threat. Forget getting in your TPS reports on time with the proper cover sheet; the restaurant managers berates with the self-importance of a high level executive. Buttons on uniforms are serious business, and you'd best heed this warning if you want to rise up the chain of command from lowly waitress. So the first half of Office Space has plenty of comedic and satirical potential, even more so now than at the turn of the century. Every character is a magnified caricature, every birthday cake and song plays like a death vigil. Beneath comedy there is always truth, which has led to responses to the film in the vein of "I quit my because of this movie" and the like, which is pretty much akin to saying you started a fight club because of Fight Club. The problem with this is that the film's events never come to a resolution, so unless you are content to fall into an equally monotonous blue collar job, that epiphany is pretty much useless. The gleeful irony set up here is that they constantly complain about their corporate prison existence yet they are also bound to for sustenance and material living. But that seemingly doesn't apply to Peter, who indulges himself in what is basically a power fantasy, where he strolls around the cubicles in flip flops, plays Tetris, openly flaunts his carelessness, and in return, is ... promoted. Perfectly humorous and in line with what we have expected from this crazy organisation, but the film can't have Peter becoming another one of those management drones, so it becomes a battle between the little guys and the establishment, and how they are taking back what is rightfully theirs. It's all a little smug, and when they eventually see the errors of their ways, too cookie-cutter to really have an impact.

This film is quite simply genius. Not a lot happens; there's no big explosions, shoot outs, alien invasions. It's just a film about a guy (Ron Livingston on form) who gets bored of his mundane job, and decides to leave, ripping off the company in the process. The jokes are absolutely classic, and the characters are so unique and witty, yet dull and mundane that the contrasts just make this film classic. Jennifer Aniston, in a very early role film-wise, pops up as Livingston's girlfriend, and has a great seen flipping off her boss. The plot may not be the greatest, but that doesn't really matter and some of the scenes in this film will have you roaring with laughter. And if you work in an office, you'll relate to some of the gags more so.Ron Livingston is superb as the job hating lead and there are some unforgettable scenes particularly the willful, joyous destruction of the hated, random-error generating photocopier. His slightly mad neighbor 'Laurence' is also a great character: 'hey man! the breast examination program is on TV!' he shouts through the thin dividing wall of the condominium, as Ron is watching Kung-Fu with Jennifer Aniston. Watching "Office Space" seems especially therapeutic after dealing with craziness at work. This probably explains the film's broad appeal; it resonates with people who have needed to suffer bureaucratic B.S., the latest manifestations of "office speak," and arbitrary rules at some point in their working lives. Although some people have criticized "Office Space" for not having enough "funny stuff," they don't seem to understand the subtlety of Judge's humor, which leans towards the dry and sardonic. One could almost imagine Billy Wilder feeling at home with the plot, though he might have needed a little extra nudging to include the gangsta rap songs.Overall rating: 9 out of 10.

Office Space was written and directed by Mike Judge, best known as creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill. OK, I'm gonna get real, I'm 20 years old, I am still in college and haven't had any experience working in an office whatsoever. But Office Space is one of those movies where you say: "Damn, that's as real as it gets." Every single description of being an office worker and the story of these people who just hate their lives just feels accurate as hell. Office Space continues to be one of the funniest movies I have ever seen, but I do think the first half of the movie is clearly the strongest and it doesn't finish as strong. But it's just one of those movies I love to watch when I'm feeling down or just overwhelmed by life in general. The sequence where Peter simply stops caring is awesome. Office Space is worth multiple viewings. Oh, and it has some pretty good one liners as well.