Office Space Reviews

First time I saw it, I had hit play on the VCR not knowing this movie (Office Space) was in the machine. (it was my daughter's rental - I'd never heard of it)

The opening scene is a traffic jam where an old man on a walker (beside the roadway) is making more forward progress than Peter (Ron Livingston) in his little Toyota. You *feel* his pain...

That is how Peter's day begins.

From there, we go to problems with "The Memo" and the cover page for the inter-office report and of course, some copy machine issues and on and on. (the copy machine does finally get what it *richly* deserves)

The whole scene about "the red stapler" is just classic comedy. One of the top 10 funniest scenes in cinematic history.

However, the drywall installer (played by Diedrich Bader) steals the show. Peter asks him "What would you do if somebody told you 'I think someone has a case of the Mondays?'" to which the drywaller gives a fair, honest and accurate answer. HILARIOUS!

This is comedy.

There are many wordy-dirds throughout the flick, but if you can get past those, you have a hilarious movie.

In our own family, the classic lines of "Office Space" have become part of our own vernacular...such as "What's Happening?" and "I was told I could play my radio..."

We *loved* this movie. This is too good to rent. You'll need your own copy to watch again and again.

In summary - it is intelligent, subtle and thoughtful humor. Looks like it was written by someone who has quite an understanding of life in the cubicle, because the whole flick has MANY elements of truth!

Rating: 5 - Okay then, but just don't forget.
If you've ever worked in a tiny cubicle, pushed papers, and fought a worthless fax machine in an attempt to earn a living, you will love this movie. OFFICE SPACE is a hilarious movie that deconstructs everything that makes an office worker's life so miserable: from morning traffic, to catch phrases (it looks like somone has the Moondays), to bosses that totally ignore their workers. This movie had a low budget, but Mike Judge is a brilliant filmmaker. He takes a relatively unknown cast and is able to milk hilarious, yet totally lifelike performances from each actor and unites everything together in a coherent conceptually comedy masterpiece (e.g. the fax-beating scene with the ganster music playing is just pure brilliance). Of course, the film says a lot about the actors as well, they don't seem to be just characters or caricatures: they seem like real people. There is no sex, relative little violence (well, there is a lot of violence toward inanimate objects), and relatively little cursing words (most of the foul language comes from the film's soundtrack). A movie that's destined to become a modern comedy classic.

Rating: 4 - A 5 star movie, a 3 star DVD
When I first saw "Office Space" in theatres I was more than happy with the results. The word funny can't really help you grasp the hilarity of this movie, and if you haven't had the chance to catch it yet don't delay any longer. It often escapes me why this movie didn't bring in millions at theatres, instead it ended up becoming a cult classic among teenagers and adults alike. Mike Judge did an excellent job with a movie that never ceases to have me in stitches, while Ron Livngston's portrayal of Peter is picture perfect.

The DVD however is another story, it lacks many features that are deserving of such a classic movie. Besides a scene selection screen, theatrical trailer, Dolby Surround sound and Language selection this is a lacking DVD. The least they could of done is thrown in the "Milton" shorts created by Mike Judge that the movie was loosely based around. I'll admit it's refreshing to see such a clear presentation, my VHS copy has become old and worn after many viewings.

Like I've said the movie is great, the DVD is a little rough around the edges and could of used more features. But if you have the choice between this and VHS format, spring for the DVD version, the quality is noticeable, and hey at least you'll have scene selection.

For more details and to buy the Office Space DVD from Amazon, you might like to try:

Office Space