OFFICE SPACE (Fox - 1999) Cast: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Diedrich Bader, Stephen Root, Gary Cole Screenplay by Mike Judge Produced by Michael Rotenberg and Daniel Rappaport Directed by Mike Judge Running time: 89 minutes
Note: Some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers. Be forewarned.
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In a marketplace where spectacle and thrills-per-minute appears to be the measure of audience appeal rather than coherent plotting, Mike Judge's live-action feature debut OFFICE SPACE makes for an unusual counterpoint: here's a picture which should've disposed with a story altogether and concentrated on stringing together bits of incidental humour. Anyone who's had their spirit crushed by a day job should relish the film's comically-accurate depiction of the insanity that is office work, but after a promising opening, this occupational comedy begins to lose its appeal the moment its unwelcome storyline spins into motion.
In not-quite-a-spoof of Fellini's 8 1/2, we're introduced to our heroes caught in the middle of a traffic jam. Immediately establishing the aggravation of the typical workday, in rapid succession we meet Peter (Ron Livingston) and his anxious sidekicks Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton (David Herman), who are discontent drones toiling at the nondescript software company Initech under the command of the wonderfully insincere manager Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole) and alongside such bizarre eccentrics as the blubbering Milton (Stephen Root), who whimpers incessantly and protectively guards his stapler with a vigor. The trio hate their jobs but can't afford to lose them, especially with the threat of downsizing on their way, and a miserable Peter winds up pleading for solace from an "occupational hypnotherapist" -- "Every day since I started working, each day has been worse than the last, so when you see me, I'm having the worst day of my life ... is there some way you can just zonk me out?" Lo and behold, Peter finds himself the recipient of a BULWORTHian transformation from trod-upon office peon to a cheerfully candid cubicle jockey who's blissfully unconcerned about job security and nonchalantly neglects his duties.
The skewering of the workplace, while not particularly groundbreaking in the wake of the Dilbert phenomenon, is nonetheless effective and often very amusing in OFFICE SPACE, and the film's observational humour is its strength, keying in on the countless little frustrations and irritants regularly encountered at the office which amass over time into soul-deadening, sanity-threatening agony. Office drudges will undoubtedly feel both a sense of deja vu and kinship at the depiction of familiar workplace experiences gleefully sent-up (without being overexaggerated for comic effect, which is perhaps the frightening part), and what's special is that Mr. Judge is able to capture the latent anger festering alongside the exasperation and hopelessness without diminishing the humour. Whether it's Samir's pent-up rage exploding at regular intervals, Milton's meek mumbling "I could ... set the building on fire," or, in the piece's showcase sequence, the trashing of a piece of office equipment (amusingly shot as a gangsta rap video, complete with mock-posturing and swagger), which injects a disturbing note in its mirth through the destructive zeal of the participants, it's unmistakable that these cubicle prisoners are on the edge between frustration and fury, ready to either curl into a whimpering ball or lash out.
The film gets so many of the little details right that at times it prompts disturbing flashbacks. From the serpentine conviviality of manager Bill Lumbergh sidling up with a disinterested, drawn-out "Yeah ... so ... what's happening?" to the mind-bending chirpiness of the secretary inevitably within earshot to the where-did-they-find-this-guy of nebbish Milton, the picture adeptly captures the absurdity of office life. (I was hoping that the film would fire a zinger at one of my pet peeves -- the manager-type who cracks stupendously unfunny jokes and the brown-nosers who dutifully guffaw at them as if new heights of hilarity had been reached -- but no such luck.)
It's when the picture attempts to veer off into an actual story that interest begins to wane. A misguided and tired caper plot involving our sympathetic trio is introduced, while Peter begins to romance a waitress, Joanne (Jennifer Aniston). The film is all too happy to explore blue-collar and white-collar workplace dissatisfaction alike -- she's given her own workplace woes: a fast-food manager (played by Mr. Judge himself under a pseudonym) who chastises her for not wearing enough "flair" on her uniform (she ought've solved this dilemma by wearing a button reading "Perfunctory Love Interest") -- but it's a poor substitute for the occupational inanity of Initech. These subplots aren't completely devoid of laughs -- I enjoyed the scowling faces and hardcore rap on the soundtrack incongruously characterizing the trio of software engineers as bad-asses as they executed their lame Machiavellian scheme, and the perfect prop placement of a mug in one of Peter's nightmares about Joanne was uproarious -- but they're far less engaging and effective than the wry observational humour of the film's first half, and ultimately steer the picture towards a pat, unsatisfying conclusion.
It's only logical for filmmakers to cast their comic gaze away from the overmined subject matter of dysfunctional families and towards the eclectic, disparate personalities which make up a workplace, especially given that an unhealthy proportion of one's life is consumed on the job. Among recent features to zing this subject matter, OFFICE SPACE is more broad and certainly less subtle than Jill Sprecher's CLOCKWATCHERS (perhaps uncoincidentally, another picture whose appeal plummeted upon the unfurling of a plot), but also far more caustically incisive and enjoyable. It's far too disposable and uneven to be considered an outright success -- the Great Workplace Comedy has yet to be made -- but it's a reasonably amusing diversion.
[ ** 1/2 (out of four stars) | Alternate Rating: B- ]
- Alex Fung, February 20, 1999
email: aw220@freenet.carleton.ca
web : http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/
-- Alex Fung (aw220@freenet.carleton.ca) | http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/~aw220/ "X-FILES fans come up to me in malls expecting me to be able to fill them in on the whole conspiracy. Half the time I have no idea what they're talking about." - Martin Landau
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