Stephen Root;
Photo courtesy of 20th Century Fox/
The Kobal Collection/Van Redin
Most of the time, movies offer a window
into an unexplored world. But the fun of "Office Space" is
that at some point -- actually, at several points -- every
corporate cubicle denizen has shared the workplace frustration
that the movie's main character, Peter Gibbons, experiences
at Initech.
It's not, as one staffer cheerily says,
"a case of the Mondays." It's a case of being stuck in a mindless
job at a soulless company peopled by desperate workers at
every level.
Screenwriter and director Mike Judge,
better known as the creator of "Beavis and Butthead," leaves
no wage-slave complaint untouched, from bumper-to-bumper commutes
to ineffectual bosses to worthless office equipment to inane
office policies. For good measure, he throws in a couple of
consultants hired to reduce staff and a seriously unbalanced
coworker who refuses to be fired.
A couple of outlandish plot twists and
a romantic B-story really don't succeed, but two scenes earn
"Office Space" a hallowed place in the workplace movie hall
of fame.
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First, a semi-hypnotized (one of those
aforementioned plot twists) Peter is brutally honest about
the company and his place in it. The consultants immediately
proclaim him "a straight shooter with upper management written
all over him."
Secondly, Peter rallies two pink
slip-destined coworkers by proclaiming that "human beings
were not meant to sit in little cubicles staring at computer
screens all day and listening to bosses drone on about mission
statements."
Do Peter's workplace woes hit home? Then
you've found the underlying money message of "Office Space":
Don't just sit there and take it. Clear
out the cube, find yourself a better (and better-paying) job
or even start
your own business.
