‘Office Space’ at 25

By John Visconti

If “having a case of the Mondays,” filling out TPS reports, red staplers, or the words “PC Load Letter” sound at all familiar, you’re probably a fan of Office Space, the popular workplace comedy from writer-director Mike Judge, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The film details the trials and tribulations of a group of workers at a software company based in Austin, Texas. Despite its initial failure at the box office, the movie’s spot-on satire of the corporate world eventually gained it a loyal group of fans. Anyone who’s had a job where they’ve been subjected to an endless cycle of repetitive tasks, or listened to a constant stream of buzzwords and corporate-speak can definitely identify with the characters in the film.

Judge (who also created Beavis and Butthead) wrote the story for the film, based in part on his own experiences working in Silicon Valley. Originally, he made several animated shorts about a character named Milton, based on one of his real-life co-workers. These short films aired on MTV and Saturday Night Live. He later expanded the concept into a screenplay, which was purchased by Twentieth Century Fox. At first, the studio wanted to cast stars like Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, but the movie ended up featuring character actors like Stephen Root and David Herman (both of whom provided voices for Judge’s King of the Hill), John C. McGinley, Gary Cole, and Richard Riehle. The only big name in the cast was Jennifer Aniston, who at the time was co-starring as “Rachel” on NBC’s popular sitcom Friends.

Ron Livingston plays Peter Gibbons, a programmer at a software company called Initiech. Peter’s burned out by the drudgery of his work, and the condescending attitude of his boss, Bill Lumbergh. The company is bringing in a pair of consultants to evaluate everyone’s jobs, and the staff is on edge, including Peter’s co-workers Samir, Tom, and of course, Michael Bolton…no, not that Michael Bolton.

After a visit to a hypnotist, Peter’s attitude about everything becomes very relaxed. He stops worrying about his job, or even showing up, and he initiates a romance with Joanna (played by Aniston), a waitress at a local TGI Friday’s style restaurant.  Joanna has her own work challenges, as her boss is constantly haranguing her about the amount of “flair” on her uniform.

Meanwhile, Lumbergh isn’t happy with the “new” Peter, but the consultants (aka the “Bobs”) see his laissez-faire attitude as refreshing, and recommend that he should be promoted! To get back at the company for eliminating some of their jobs, Peter and his friends hatch a plan (inspired by a plot point in the film Superman III) to clandestinely embezzle money from the company. Things come to a head when their scheme goes south, while a disgruntled employee named Milton decides to take out his own revenge on Initech.

Office Space is very funny, with terrific performances from the entire cast, though Cole is a standout as the droll Lumbergh. The dialogue features an endless stream of quotable lines (several of them improvised) and there are a few hilarious set pieces, such as the destruction of a pesky printer.

Many of the film’s memorable moments continue to live on as internet memes. Ironically, when it was originally released in 1999, Office Space wasn’t a box office hit, but later became a cult classic thanks to word of mouth, a successful DVD release, and regular airings on Comedy Central. Judge and the cast have commented that people still come up to them and tell them how much they enjoyed the film. If you haven’t seen the movie, check it out, and make sure you have those TPS reports on my desk by the end of the day!

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This post was previously published on CultureSonar.

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