OFFICE SPACE starts off hysterically, and imaginatively, deriving full humor from such things as traffic jams, annoying co-workers, unpleasant cubicles, and malfunctioning office equipment, with this setting the stage for what follows; a large, soulless corporation is bringing in consultants, and people are about to be "downsized" (i.e., fired). Peter, the protagonist, has a moment of clarity and begins to treat his job with complete indifference, leading to the absurdity of his promotion; then, showing both bravado and loyalty to his downsized buddies, he cooks up a scheme which will both exact revenge on the company and make himself and his friends rich. He'll then be able to devote himself full time to a life of complete slackerdom.
A secondary story involves Peter's relationship with a waitress at Chotchkes, a Fridays/Chiles type chain restaurant where the employees suffer indignities all their own.
And then there's Milton, the obese, coke-bottle eyeglasses wearing, zero social skilled employee back at the main workplace. Milton gets pushed around once too often until he takes sweet revenge - the result is both richly satisfying and very funny.
While OFFICE SPACE is generally a very funny comedy, it doesn't necessarily sustain the uproarious humor with which it starts. Nevertheless, it manages to have a lot going for it, and achieves a fairly strong level of populist satisfaction; you can't help but cheer for the screwballs and slackers as they set out to destroy their evil workplace. It's also one of the best cast movies I've ever seen. The actors playing Milton, Michael Bolton, the two Bobs, etc. all manage to bring just the right level of quirkiness to their parts. They don't overact, and they're not over the top. Nevertheless, they're memorable.
My grade = 8 out of a possible 10.
A secondary story involves Peter's relationship with a waitress at Chotchkes, a Fridays/Chiles type chain restaurant where the employees suffer indignities all their own.
And then there's Milton, the obese, coke-bottle eyeglasses wearing, zero social skilled employee back at the main workplace. Milton gets pushed around once too often until he takes sweet revenge - the result is both richly satisfying and very funny.
While OFFICE SPACE is generally a very funny comedy, it doesn't necessarily sustain the uproarious humor with which it starts. Nevertheless, it manages to have a lot going for it, and achieves a fairly strong level of populist satisfaction; you can't help but cheer for the screwballs and slackers as they set out to destroy their evil workplace. It's also one of the best cast movies I've ever seen. The actors playing Milton, Michael Bolton, the two Bobs, etc. all manage to bring just the right level of quirkiness to their parts. They don't overact, and they're not over the top. Nevertheless, they're memorable.
My grade = 8 out of a possible 10.