Office Space

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Movie Details

• Genre: Comedy, Romance
• Release Date: 1999-02-19 Nationwide
• Running Time: 90 min.
• Director: Mike Judge
• Cast: Jennifer Aniston, Ron Livingston, Gary Cole, Stephen Root, David Herman
• Producer: Daniel Rappaport, Michael Rotenberg
• Writer: Mike Judge
• Distributor: 20th Century Fox
• Official Site: Office Space Official Site

Testifying to our workplace frustrations and idiosyncrasies, this nonanimated debut by Beavis and Butt-head creator Mike Judge isn't exactly a brilliant film, but it's full of great characters having great moments. There's the unfortunately named Michael Bolton (David Herman), a pissed-off software engineer who drives to work bumping and grinding to gangsta rap only to lock the door when a black man approaches his car. There's his co-worker Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), who tells his therapist, "Every day is the worst day of my life"; and a Middle Eastern computer programmer, Samir (Ajay Naidu), who tries in vain to swear in English. In a hilarious slow-motion scene, all three gather in a field to destroy their office's printer with an ax. Judge's unifying theme is the notion that "work sucks"--which it certainly does at Initech, a company devoted to downsizing. Alas, how the film's trio of losers tries to beat the system, along with a subplot concerning the reluctance of a waitress (Jennifer Aniston) to wear a lot of stupid pins on her uniform, is hardly enough to sustain a feature. But Judge has infectious fun satirizing (sometimes quite tastelessly) the nine-to-five drudgery that too many of us have come to know and tolerate. (Mark Bazer)