Take This Job and Shove It Office Space
By Ross Anthony
Office Space is funny!
"It's not that I'm lazy -- I just don't care," Peter (Livingston) explains to the two shocked efficiency experts hired to down-size the software company at which he works.
Peter is the generic every-person. He's you and me (we'll not me -- I like my job). Toiling with traffic, patronizing bosses, temperamental office equipment and the Y2K problem. One day all that unspoken tension comes to a boiling point, but instead of exploding ... it dissipates, leaving him in a floating state of Nirvana. "Are you going to quit?" love interest Joanna (Aniston) asks. "No, I'm just not gonna go," Peter responds with a blissfully bent smile.
Soon enough, Peters learns that his two buddies at the company are being phased out -- so the three develop a revenge/embezzlement plan that should even the playing field (so they think). "It's a short life," Peter cries, "We weren't meant to stare at computers in little cubicles all day, listening to our eight bosses drone on about mission statements!" The three, however, start to have second thoughts. In one of Peter's guilt-ridden dreams, a judge puts it this way, "you've lived a trite little life" as if that were his sentence, "and you're a bad person."
The plot line isn't the hook in this movie ... it's the satiric truths about real life. With just a touch of exaggeration, reality can be darned funny. It's the little things: The use of slow-mo to dramatize the stale office environment is such an odd juxtaposition of events that we scream with laughter. And then there's the gangstyle lynching of the office printer -- if you've ever used a copy machine in your life, you won't be able to watch this baseball bat vs. technology scene with a straight face.
Starring Ron Livingston with Jennifer Aniston. Writer/Director Mike Judge (of "Milton" animated shorts) Producers Michael Rotenberg and Daniel Rappaport at 20th Century Fox
Grade..........................A
-- Copyright © 1999 Ross Anthony, currently based in Los Angeles, has scripted and shot documentaries, music videos, and shorts in 35 countries across North America, Europe, Africa and Asia. For more reviews visit: http://RossAnthony.com
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