Office Space

Office Space is a 1999 comedy film written and directed by Mike Judge, partially based on his 1991 animated short films named after the character Milton. Though it pokes fun at work life in a typical software company during the late 1990s (there's a reference to writing code for the Y2K bug), the film resonates with corporate employees as a whole, by portraying individuals who are entirely fed up with their jobs. The movie was filmed in both Austin and Dallas, Texas, USA. Although the setting is not stated explicitly, a reference to Las Colinas, Texas, (actually, the subtitles of the film refer to the city as Las Colindas, not Las Colinas) implies that the setting is the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex. Some sources state that the movie is set in Houston (or at least that the software company is based there), and one character's personnel file shows a home ZIP code of 77070, which is in Houston (though the city shown in the file is not).

Office Space is based on the Milton series of cartoons Mike Judge created for Saturday Night Live. While not financially successful at the box office — just about breaking even — it has proven to be popular on home video and in rental stores. Most recently, a special edition DVD (with Flair!) was released, with additional content.

Plot

In a cube farm setting evocative of the Dilbert comic strip, the film depicts the daily grind of Initech workers Peter, Michael, Samir, and Milton. Soon after the movie begins, two consultants (called "The Bobs" since they both have the same first name), are brought in to Initech to help with cutting expenses by downsizing and outsourcing. The workers at Initech are then interviewed for the purposes of determining which employees are to be shown the door.

Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) is a programmer who spends his days updating bank software to remedy the then-expected Y2K disaster. His co-workers include Samir Nagheenanajar (Ajay Naidu), whose last name no one else can pronounce; Michael Bolton (David Herman), who, much to his dismay, shares his name with the real-life singer (Michael Bolton); and Milton Waddams (Stephen Root), a soft-spoken, fixated collator who mumbles to himself incessantly and is repeatedly walked on by management, especially the hollow office manager, the soulless Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole). Lumbergh—a stereotypical corporate middle-manager who spends most of his time wandering the office coffee mug in hand, wears white-collared shirts and suspenders, and emotionlessly micromanages his employees while engaging them with superficial small talk—is Peter's personal antichrist.

Meanwhile, Peter is stressed, burnt out, and ineffective, and will likely be first on the Bobs' downsizing list. Fortunately, something unusual happens during the occupational hypnotherapy session urged upon him by his soon-to-be ex-girlfriend — the obese hypnotherapist (Michael McShane) suddenly dies before he can snap Peter out of a state of complete relaxation. The newly-relaxed and still half-hypnotized Peter announces that he will not work anymore, instead pursuing his lifelong dream of "doing nothing," and finally asking out Joanna (Jennifer Aniston), a waitress he's long wanted to date. During his interview with the Bobs, Peter unreservedly speaks his mind about the absurdity of his job and of how Initech is run. The Bobs misinterpret Peter's candor, easy-going attitude, and the valid points he makes as evidence of a corporate executive mentality. Much to his surprise and Lumbergh's dismay, Peter receives a promotion while his friends Samir and Michael, two of his department's best employees, are going to get canned.

In order to get back at the company, the three friends decide to infect the accounting system with a computer virus which will round down fractions of a cent from accrual of interest and transfer the leftovers into their own account (see salami slicing). Peter, when questioned by Joanna about what he and his friends had been celebrating, attempts to diminish the sense that he is doing something illegal by comparing the theft to taking the pennies from the penny tray at a convenience store. However, it takes $305,236.13 in one day and the three friends are certain that such a large amount going missing in so short a time period will be noticed and that they will go to jail. After a crisis of conscience, Peter decides to write a letter in which he takes all the blame for himself. Peter slips the envelope with the letter and the money (in unsigned traveler's cheques) under the door of his boss' office.

However, all their problems are solved when Milton snaps after Bill Lumbergh takes away his beloved red Swingline stapler and moves his desk yet again, this time to the cockroach-infested Storage Room B in the basement. Milton then sets fire to the boss' office, which destroys the entire building, including all the computers and the virus code. Peter finally finds a job that makes him happy (working construction with his gravel-voiced neighbor Lawrence), Samir and Michael get jobs at Initrode (a rival company), and Milton makes his way to the Caribbean with the traveler's checks.

Loose ends

The film leaves some major plot threads unresolved: Peter and Joanna's relationship is never finalized one way or the other, Peter and Lumbergh's antagonistic relationship never comes to head, and Lumbergh's fate is explained in a deleted scene in which Michael asks Peter if he went to Lumbergh's funeral.

Cast

Ron Livingston as Peter Gibbons
Jennifer Aniston as Joanna
Ajay Naidu as Samir Nagheenanajar
David Herman as Michael Bolton
Gary Cole as Bill Lumbergh
Stephen Root as Milton Waddams
Richard Riehle as Tom Smykowski
Alexandra Wentworth as Anne
Joe Bays as Dom Portwood
John C. McGinley as Bob Slydell
Diedrich Bader as Lawrence
Paul Willson as Bob Porter
Kinna McInroe as Nina
Todd Duffey as Bryan
Greg Pitts as Drew
Michael McShane as Dr. Swanson
Linda Wakeman as Laura Smykowski
Kyle Scott Jackson as Rob Newhouse
Orlando Jones as Steve
Barbara George-Reiss as Peggy (Lumbergh's Secretary)
Mike Judge — credited pseudonymously as "William King" — as Stan (Manager of Chotchkie's)
Jack Betts as the Judge

In popular culture

Several phrases, items and concepts from the film have found their way into common usage (particularly in office environments):

Federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison — refers to a maximum-security federal penitentiary, as opposed to the "resort prisons" that house white-collar criminals. ^*
TPS report — denotes any type of mindless office paperwork, based on the film's satirical example of such work.
PC Load Letter — an actual laser printer error message indicating that the printer needs letter-sized paper, but more generally a catch-all for any nonsensical error message.
The Printer — In the movie, this appliance's unreliability finally prompts Peter, Samir and Michael to take baseball bats to the device in an open field as "Still" by The Geto Boys plays, in a scene visually referencing a violent episode in Casino. The term Office Space–style, or "Going Office Space on" is used to refer to this type of destruction. ^*
O-face - refers to the face a man makes during an orgasm; phrase is used by obnoxious co-worker, Drew, describing what he is going to show to a new female employee at logistics. ^*
Did/Didn't you get that memo? — refers to a question a worker is asked by multiple supervisors at varying levels.
A case of the Mondays — refers to accidental expressions of deep frustration at one's job (especally on Mondays); phrase is used by a cheery co-worker to describe Peter's attitude at the start of the film.
No-talent ass-clown — slang term referring to a person of irritating or dubious character; taken from Michael's derisive comment about his musical namesake. Adapted by pro wrestler Chris Jericho as a catchphrase.
Red Swingline stapler — Item that is the only constant in the life of abused employee Milton Waddams, who snaps after it is stolen. The red Swingline did not exist when Office Space was released, but due to popular demand Swingline began mass producing the red version. It remains a symbol of quiet dissent amongst office workers. The official Swingline product page describes the product thus: "Discover the stapling star of any office space - the bold head-turning design and legendary performance of Swingline´s Rio Red Stapler." The Rio Red may be a reference to Milton's eventual tropical retreat.
Flair/Pieces of Flair — refers to the mass quantities of buttons and pins Joanna is required to wear while working at the fictional T.G.I. Friday's-style restaurant "Chotchkie's", as in the title of the 2005 "Special Edition, with Flair" DVD release. (Tchotchke is a Yiddish word meaning worthless trinket — like the pieces of flair)

Trivia

In the similarly themed British television series The Office, "Pete Gibbons" is mentioned on two occasions as a former Wernham Hogg employee.
Gary Cole reprised his role as "Bill Lumbergh" in the episode of Family Guy titled "The Father, the Son, and the Holy Fonz".
The opening aerial shots of a gridlocked highway in the morning were shot at the intersection of Interstate 635 and, Coit Road, looking west towards the Dallas North Tollway. These shots are a few of the scenes filmed in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex.
Stephen Root (Milton) had to wear contact lenses behind his character's inch-thick glasses; he revealed on the Special Edition DVD that, despite the contacts, he generally couldn't see well while wearing the glasses and had to learn the way around the set for movements such as turning Lumbergh's office door knob at the end.
During the scene when the three main characters destroy a printer, Peter Gibbons does not actually attack the printer even once.
When Peter first meets The Bobs, a whiteboard behind the conference table shows a massive chart titled "Planning to Plan."
The Initech scenes were shot mainly at the Tivoli building near the Arboretum in Austin.
The exterior shots of Initech were shot at an office building in an industrial area in south Austin. ^*
The scenes of Peter in his car driving to work were shot around the IBM and J.J. Pickle Research Campus near the intersection of Burnet Road and Braker Lane in north Austin.
The restaurant scenes for Chotchkie's were shot at the Alligator Grill.
Scenes for the apartment were filmed at the Great Hills Apartments off Morado Cir.
There are 3 known "Milton" animated shorts which aired on SNL during the 1993-94 and 1994-95 seasons (93a, 93p, 94d.)
An early release of the film in the Boston area left out the hypnotherapist scene, as well as the subplot with ex-girlfriend "Ann". The conclusion was also different, with the co-workers splitting the money. While this more hardened story line resonated well with Bostonians, a softer story line was eventually preferred by the director.

External links

1999 films | Comedy films | Cult films