Movie Review: Office Space

I know I am the last person on the planet to have seen this movie, but I finally caught Office Space. So many people have told me for so long how hysterical this movie is that I'm sorry to say it suffered a bit from the hype for me. Don't get me wrong - I thought it was funny - but I had higher expectations.

For those that don't know the premise, it satirizes the droning existence of holding an unsatisfying job in both a generic corporate atmosphere as well as in the cartoonish, over the top context of a chain restaurant like TGIFs. It really did capture some ridiculous kernels of truth and made me laugh at the (at times) absurdity of my own office life. And I now have greater sympathy for the Appleby's waiter who once accompanied each plate delivery to my table with the enthusiastic assurance: "That's good eatin' right there." (By the way, for those shocked to hear I ate in an Appleby's, this was 10 years ago, and I was in South Carolina. The gourmet restaurant pickings were slim at the time.)

For anyone who has ever worked for someone you thought to be of questionable intellect and/or competence, yet suffering from no lack of disdaining superiority, this movie demonstrates you were not alone. You will laugh out loud with self recognition. (To any of my current or former bosses who may be reading this blog, I am not talking about you.)

I will say, I think this movie was probably funnier before the sitcom The Office came out. That show is so well written, and they've had the luxury of several seasons to make their characters complex and totally lovable for all their quirks. Office Space was, I'm sure, ground breaking in its day (that being the day of the floppy disk and reliance on a fax machine). The Office picked up where they left off.