Office Space (1999)
Introduction
Hello you. Make a cup of tea. Put a record on. Something suitably lifeless, maybe the dying hum of a PC fan or the muzak version of Nirvana you heard in Tesco. It's 1999: Blair's promised revolution has already curdled into spin-driven bollocks, everyone's terrified their toaster might explode on New Year's Day thanks to the Millennium Bug, and cinema screens are clogged with Hollywood disasters like Wild Wild West.
In slides Mike Judge’s Office Space - a scathingly bleak comedy for anyone who's realised their job is pointless but still shows up anyway.
Plot Summary
Peter Gibbons is every miserable office worker you've ever met. Trapped in the beige nightmare of software firm Initech, he's slowly dying beneath fluorescent lights. After a hypnosis session leaves him blissfully indifferent, Peter openly mocks corporate policy, ignores work, and paradoxically gets promoted. Alongside his equally broken colleagues, he attempts a barely thought-out scheme to rip off the company - leading predictably to chaos, but gloriously to catharsis.
Behind the Scenes
Mike Judge made Office Space after enduring his own hellish stint in Silicon Valley. The studio was baffled, cluelessly marketing it as another workplace slapstick comedy and then promptly burying it after a disastrous cinema run. The film’s salvation came later on DVD, quietly passed between burned-out workers like an underground manifesto.
Why It’s a Must-Watch
Office Space cut through the bullshit precisely because it captured the relentless absurdity of late-90s corporate drudgery. No cheap slapstick, no unrealistic romantic arcs, just brutally accurate satire of pointless tasks, endless bureaucracy, and idiot bosses. It resonated with audiences because it gave voice to the bitter realisation that work often has no point - and never pretended otherwise.
Key Quote
“It’s not that I’m lazy; it’s that I just don’t care. - Peter Gibbons”
For Fans Of
Fight Club (1999). Both films captured the seething rage of late-90s disillusionment - one with fists and chaos, the other with cold-eyed sarcasm.
Memorable Moments
The printer execution scene, a cathartic eruption of pent-up office rage soundtracked by Geto Boys' "Still."
Every infuriatingly passive-aggressive exchange with Peter’s supervisor, Bill Lumbergh ("Yeah, if you could just go ahead and come in on Saturday...").
Milton’s heartbreaking, maddening quest to reclaim his red stapler, culminating in the film’s beautifully petty act of revenge - arson.
Easter Eggs
Swingline didn't even produce red staplers until Office Space fans pestered them relentlessly after the film's release.
Mike Judge himself appears as Joanna's unbearable Chotchkie’s manager, embodying every awful middle-management stereotype in one grating cameo.
Peter’s apartment complex, hilariously called "Morningwood Apartments," is Judge smuggling in juvenile humour under the radar.
Why You Should Care
Office Space matters precisely because it refuses to offer false hope or patronising platitudes about finding meaning in meaningless tasks. Judge nails the quiet, simmering despair of anyone trapped behind a desk, waiting for retirement or death - whichever mercifully comes first. Watch it because sometimes, realising everything’s pointless and laughing bitterly at your own futility is the only thing left.
See you on down the road.
