7/6 #1
Office Space (1999).
When his hypnotherapist dies of a heart attack mid-session, computer analyst and office automaton Peter Gibbons (Livingston) is left in a subconscious state, complete with a lack of any
sense of responsibility and a willingness to act without regard to consequences. Gone is his manic rush
through bumper-to-bumper traffic to get to the mindnumbing drudgery of his cubicle at Initech--replaced, instead, by sleeping in, fishing, flirting with the waitress (Aniston) at Chochkies--the local eatery--and the occasional midday stroll into the office. This inexplicable change bewilders his patronizing boss (played with vacuous delight by Cole), who has hired a pair of downsizing consultants (McGinley and Willson) to clear out Initech's dead wood. This includes Peter's friends Samir (Naidu) and Michael Bolton (Herman, whose nomen-challenged character can't seem to shake jokes about the singer), and would include Peter as well, were it not for his new laidback attitude and blunt honesty. Instead, he is recommended for a promotion. The firing of his friends, however, cannot go unpunished, so the
three hatch a plan to steal the incremental remainders of electronic transactions (a la "Superman III") and grow rich. A first attempt by Mike Judge, creator of cultural icons Beavis and ....-head, to write and direct a live-action feature, drawing inspiration from his early "Milton" shorts for television's "Saturday Night Live" (the character is played in the film by a sniveling Stephen Root). The jokes and sight gags are in constant supply, and stumble only when leaned on too heavily. The film is also, to be sure, quite cathartic.