Three Reasons Why the Movie Office Space Nails It
The film Office Space hit theatres back in 1999. It largely disappeared, earning a modest $12.8 million at the box office on an equally modest budget of $10 million.
The movie follows the exploits of a disillusioned IT professional and his pals. Its writer and director Mike Judge was also the creative force behind 90s favourites Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, and in our current Trump era, the now eerily prescient Idiocracy.
But since then, Office Space, with its sly and subversive critique of cubicle culture, has earned a large cult following. It sold millions of copies on VHS and DVD, and remains a regular feature on the Comedy Central network in the United States.
So what clicked with people that made a small budget film from a little known director a cult classic? It’s not so much the move as the set pieces that absolutely nail the more lunatic moments of business life.
Start with the boss, Bill Lumberg. He’s a suspender-wearing micromanager with a fetish for paperwork. Even if you don’t know the movie, you’ve seen his face around the Internet on countless memes. Here he reminds Peter, the main character, about the absolute necessity of filling in the TPS reports.
Or when the Peter just doesn’t care anymore (He’s been hypnotized, but let’s not get bogged down in the plot.) He’s going face-to-face with the consultants that have been brought in to manage layoffs at the company.
“It’s not that I’m lazy, I just don’t care.”
I mean, c’mon, who hasn’t been there somewhere along the way?
Or look at the pitch perfect scene where the characters have reached a breaking point with the tyranny of office live, as symbolized by an uncooperative printer, and extract their revenge.
You know you’ve thought about it. (Language NSFW)
If you haven’t seen the movie yet, well, it’s time.
As a bonus, it’s probably the only Jennifer Aniston movie you will actually want to watch outside an airplane.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJtrLKGZZFg