Office Space Review
by Craig Roush (kinnopio AT execpc DOT com)February 23rd, 1999
OFFICE SPACE
* (out of 4) - a poor movie
Release Date: February 19, 1999
Starring: Jennifer Aniston, Ron Livingston, Gary Cole, Stephen Root, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, John C. McGinley, Paul Willson Directed by: Mike Judge
Distributed by: 20th Century Fox Films Corp.
MPAA Rating: R (language, brief sexuality)
URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1999/office.htm
Confucius once said, "Governing a nation is like cooking a small fish -- don't overdo it." His maxim might be easily applied to writing a comedy script, for quantity over quality is one of the worst mistakes an amateur scribe can make. Granted, Mike Judge, writer-director of the workplace satire OFFICE SPACE isn't exactly an amateur (his most infamous work, the MTV series "Beavis and Butt-head" was pure gold for its network). But unfailingly, Judge manages to make some rather inexcusable mistakes in OFFICE SPACE by spreading an iffy plot over too much ground.
The iffiness in Judge's plot -- a group of coworkers plan the downfall of their despicable boss -- is not in its appeal. In fact, based on the popularity of Scott Adams' cartoon "Dilbert," which will soon have its own television series, a satirical view of the American workplace is a hot item in Hollywood. Unfortunately the concept lends itself to skit-length sequences which would be more at home on the set of "Saturday Night Live" rather than a full-length feature. The most convincing evidence of this are the trailers for OFFICE SPACE, which feature almost all of the movie's top content; this leaves the actual picture appearing very deflated.
Other evidence of OFFICE SPACE's failure to work are its lack of good jokes. The comedy is marginally funny at best, but not enough to get a packed house of theater-goers to laugh out loud. The material in the movie is on-key for an older demographic than Judge is used to targeting, and this could partially explain his work here. However, the movie is loaded with too many misfires -- including the token plot -- to allow for any excuse.
The plot centers around three or four cubicled engineers, headed up by Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), at a company named Initech. After the movie elaborately establishes the miserable working conditions at Initech, the movie introduces us to two consultants (John C. McGinley and Paul Willson) which are in charge of "downsizing" the company's payroll. When Peter and his gang learns of this, as well as the reason behind it -- so their smooth talking boss Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole)'s stock will go up -- they set about creating a plan to see his downfall.
The circumstances that follow were obviously intended to be hilarious but they come out as anything but. A sympathetic cast and a muddled Jennifer Aniston-as-love-interest subplot are all that keep this one together, but it's definitely missable in lieu of something more intelligent.
all contents © 1999 Craig Roush
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Craig Roush
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