"Office Space:" An ode to the regular person

Yeeeaaaaahhh...

"Office Space"

Directed by: Mike Judge

Jake's Rating: 9.1/10

Streaming to: Starz, Amazon to rent

Tastefully pulling off openly satirical entertainment is not something that's especially easy to do. As we've seen time and again from writer/director Mike Judge, he's one of the few who's consistently capable of pulling it off. And that's maybe no more true than in his 1999 cult classic, "Office Space."

What's funny about the term "cult classic," especially as it relates to this movie, is that it feels like it has all the trappings of a cult movie, but has since surpassed that benchmark into being what many would consider just a straight up classic. Mainly, the look of it, the punchy/quotable dialogue, and the unforgettable characters brought to us without a massive budget or marketing push give us the feeling of a film that's still to this day somewhat underground. But in everyday life, all it will take is the mention of this movie, a quote from Lumbergh, or a not so subtle reference to beating up a piece of technology that's frustrating to you to make a lot of the people in the conversation (if not all) to understand what you're talking about.

That this tiny cubicle drama from 1999 still has that effect on society 20 years later speaks to the brilliance of Judge's vision, and a lot of small, specific choices that he made in executing it. Namely, he recognizes and sympathizes in the plight of the characters he's dealing with, and rather than trade on large, life altering moments that force change out of us, he spends a good amount of this movie keying in on the little things that pile up in front of our faces until we're forced to make a choice: change or continue to suffer. Getting stuck in traffic, being jolted by a static shock, listening to the same annoying voice of your co-worker drone into their phone - they all serve as the slowly accumulating annoyances that color your unfortunate reality of slowly withering away in the fluorescent hellscape that is corporate America.

Or at least, that's the initial, overly dramatic perspective of Peter Gibbons that we're seeing things through. Through a come-to-Jesus moment following some lazy, selfish behavior, Peter comes to learn that things aren't all bad, and in the process frees himself of the job that was making him miserable. That's thanks in part to that tastefully satirical approach Judge takes.

Peter is made out to be miserable, but the humor is always there to keep things grounded. His boss is a douche, but he isn't abusive; his job is a drag, but he has a good group of friends to get him through it; his girlfriend is a tough hang, but his next door neighbor Lawrence is always there to keep things in (hilariously hillbilly-esque) perspective. For every annoyance and frustration of real life this movie evokes, Judge always brings in some lightheartedness to remind both as viewers, and as human beings, that things really aren't all bad and that life is what we make of it - that's somethings that's easier said than done, as a venture too far into the darker nature of some of these conversations the movie prompts and you're all of a sudden watching "Fight Club."

Not that there's anything wrong with "Fight Club," but multiple perspectives on the same idea existing will always be a good thing, and there's something to be said for the fact that there's (thankfully) many more people in the world who will relate to Peter Gibbons than will to Tyler Durden. In that sense, "Office Space" is the perfectly crafted ode to the corporate American desk jockey, and perhaps was a big reason why corporate office culture has shifted in the few decades since it's release. In my experience, my day job (while not that dissimilar to Peter's) features awesome people, a somewhat lax dress code, and a culture that values it's employees much more than Initech does - for that I thank Mike Judge, and will always preach the gospel of this movie.

Long live Office Space, one of the best movies about regular people ever made.