Where to watch Office Space
4 Stars
Audiences didn’t realize they were missing a classic when they didn’t show for the film’s theatrical run. Studio executives wrote the picture off as a financial flop and they quickly forgot about the low-budget comedy from, Mike Judge, the creator of Beavis and Butthead. However, the film gained mass awareness on home video and was soon thought of as an outright unmissable masterpiece.
Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) hates his job at software company Initech. While undergoing hypnotherapy, Peter is left in a blissful state when his therapist dies in the middle of their session. He refuses to work overtime, plays games at his desk and unintentionally charms two consultants into putting him on the management fast-track. When Peter’s friends learn they’re about to be downsized, they hatch a revenge plot against the company inspired by Superman III.
Office Space would make an interesting double feature with David Fincher’s Fight Club. Both films were released in 1999 and each looks at the boredom and lack of motivation of a white late-20’s male working in an unfulfilling corporate job. Fight Club is radically different in tone and visual style, but the underlying theme is the same as Judge’s comedic mediation. Office Space is an uproarious, intelligent, and truthful representation of the soul-crushing sameness of being a corporate drone in the late nineties.
Director: Mike Judge
Stars: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Stephen Root, Gary Cole