Office Space
15/02/10 19:39 Filed in: Comedy
Office Space (1999)
Reviewed by Mike Attebery
Unless you’ve worked in a soul-deadening office environment like the one in Mike Judge’s 1999 film, you’re bound to have a hard time understanding where exactly ‘Office Space’ is coming from. Unfortunately, I had the misfortunate to work in the customer service department of just such a hell hole, not to mention other high security detention centers/workplaces, with carpeted three foot high cubicles, telephones/unblinking-punch card-tracking-stations, and micromanaging managers/control freaks who displayed an inexplicable passion for tracking their employee’s bathroom time, coffee breaks, and vacation plans, with the obsessively controlling tendencies of a puppeteer jerking at the strings of her favorite marionette. In short, as the tagline says, in some places, work really does suck.
So then what of ‘Office Space?’ Well, like I said, if you’ve ever worked in a place like Initech, you know exactly what the characters are going through, and that even the most seemingly unbelievable elements of oppressive control are all too real. In fact, from my experience, the elements that don’t ring true are the ones that show the characters as having any sort of freedom whatsoever during the workday. Working in the corporate offices of America’s favorite drug dealers, I would never have gotten away with taking a midmorning break to grab coffee with my coworkers at a place like Chotchkies. Hell, I couldn’t even go to the bathroom there without entering a special bathroom code on my desk phone! Which I think is the reason this movie strikes me as alternately hilarious and chilling. The first time I saw it, I felt as if it had been made just for me. This was the fate I was suffering through, while literally asking myself “what happened to my life?” as I walked into work each day. Once I found an escape route from that place, I watched the film again and felt cold sweat springing to the back of my neck as the hell of the working class masses jogged long-repressed memories hidden deep in the recesses of my brain. Then I saw it again, and somehow it all seemed funny again.
Having just come back from two days of meetings in the type of work environment I have long since said goodbye to, and taking note of the mild panic that set in as soon as I sat down in my temporary, three foot high, carpeted fattening pen, next to the very same brand of phone I was forced to use as a self-tracking punch card system all those year ago, I was immediately reminded of the hell far too many workers must endure on a daily basis as they feel their dreams being wrenched away, only to be replaced with water bills, electric bills, overtaxed pay stubs, and horror of horrors, electronic workday punch cards. ‘Office Space’ gets all of these indignities just right. The micromanaging boss. The nearly silent, yet screamingly repetitive office sounds. The truly defeated employee. The hopeless ones. The maddeningly unpredictable office machines. They’re all there. All so perfectly rendered as to give you nightmares. Don’t watch this on a Sunday night.
But there are also so many moments with the power to inspire change. My favorite sequence is the montage reminding us how good it is to be a gangster. I love it. I just love it. If you’ve ever broken free of such a place, watch that segment just to remind you of the freedom you’ve found. Hell, I just may go fishing tomorrow.
If you haven't seen this, just blind buy it and watch it tonight (unless tonight is a Sunday).
The Blu-ray of ‘Office Space’ offers great video, surprisingly nice sound, and all the extras from the previously released special edition DVD. This one if highly recommended. Pick up a copy today, you gangster you.