Life in a Cubicle. Review on Office Space Movie

When I first saw Office Space, I was fighting the urge to quit corporate world, and venture into something a wee bit more creative and satisfying. Today however, i'm reviewing this film about everyday-morning-blues, to fight a serious dose of monday-morning-blues.

Office Space is your story, if you work within the confines of modern day corporate world, amidst jammed printers, enthusiastic colleagues, annoying bosses, welcome coffee breaks, forced birthday celebrations, and weekend work sessions. At the start, you are introduced to main protagonist, Peter. He is you, and he is tired before his day actually begins. Like a lot of us, he crawls out of bed, and into work. Life is monotonous, even as he fights the morning traffic just to get to work on time. But no matter how hard he tries, he is always fifteen-minutes-late.

Once at work, he rushes into his seat, switches on his computer, and barely begins his everyday existence, when the humdrum of office noises take over. His equally disgruntled colleagues, Samir and Micheal Bolton then make an appearance. Samir is the funny guy from India, who rarely ever seeks out trouble. But given the company he keeps, he has very little choice. Then there is the intelligent Micheal Bolton, who has grown up explaining his name. Like Peter and Samir, he is unappreciated, as therefore feels the need to unleash his inner frustrations.

Like many of us, the unhappy three begin their day with a coffee break at a cafe where Peter is secretly nursing his growing interest in Joanna. After some boss/work bitching, Peter and his friends then return to what promises to be another busy day.

Back at work, you see the amalgamation of all your bosses put together. Lumbergh is boss you've all survived. He is friendly, annoying, and he walks around with a mug of coffee. He palms off work with ease, just when you're all set to leave the office for the day. Sometimes, he even tells you to come on a Saturday.

Lumbergh is good at squeezing work out of his employees, even when he isn't paying them. Milton who mutters incoherently, and seems obsessed with his stapler is one of them. Everyone is indifferent to his presence. His seat gets transferred, his stapler is taken, and he is the only employee not given a slice of cake during the boss's birthday. But one day, he fights back!

Meanwhile Peter and his friends decide they've had enough as well. They come up with a get-rich-scheme that backfires. But confident they'd survive, Peter sleeps through a work day, gets in late in casuals, and gives the review committee a piece of his mind. But as it has happened to many of us, speaking up sometimes works to our advantage. He survives a layoff that is just around the corner. But this spate of good luck is short lived, and the three employees who took out their anger on a printer, must then find ways of sneaking their way in.

Luckily, not all is lost. Before they are caught, Milton has already put the office on fire; a secret fantasy that you sometimes habour, when the going gets tough!

The film is hillarious; perhaps more because you relate to it so well. The office space looks familiar; the problems feel familiar; the people strutting about look familiar; the boss is familiar; and the urge to break free is definitely familiar. See it, because you will relate to it, and derive some laughs out of everyday situations that you live.

A brilliant film, Office Space has some brilliant acting by the likes of Ron Livingston, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Gary Cole, and my personal favorite Stephen Root (as Milton). Jennifer Aniston plays Joanna, Peter's girlfriend, and she gives a decent performance.

However, the star of the film is writer/director Mike Judge. After all he is the guy who wrote:

Peter Gibbons: So I was sitting in my cubicle today, and I realized, ever since I started working, every single day of my life has been worse than the day before it. So that means that every single day that you see me, that's on the worst day of my life.

Dr. Swanson: Wow, that's messed up.