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Movie Review:Office Space
"Office Space" is a joyous frontal assault on the modern workplace - especially the computer part of same -- from Mike Judge, the creator of the late, much lamented "Beavis & Butt-head" and "King of the Hill."
It's also yet another in a lengthening string of movies centered on nerd and geek life.
"Office Space" is nowhere near close to being a great movie, but strangely is no less fun for that. Anybody who has endured or survived work as a low-level functionary in a high-tech modern corporation ought to go see this movie, preferably accompanied by colleagues and fellow office dwellers.
Ron Livingston plays Peter, a programmer who works in a suffocating cubicle working on updating Y2K code for banks. His company is aptly named "Initech," and it's never precisely clear what it does. His friends Michael (David Herman) and Samir (Ajay Naidu) are equally miserable but more accepting.
Peter hates every single thing about his job, including his oily bosses, so much that he simply stops going, aided in this by the sudden collapse by heart attack of a hypno-therapist at the very moment he was instructing Peter to feel better about things.
As the therapist is carted off to the hospital, Peter is frozen in a state of well being. He realizes his true ambition, which is to do nothing much.
So he comes in when and if he feels like it. He ignores his bosses demands. He knocks down his cubicle so he can see the view outside. He throws fish entrails around the office, and otherwise screws up so brazenly and publicly that he is, of course immediately promoted by his savagely portrayed middle-management martinet boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole.)
Peter is snapped out of his reverie when his admittedly and self-described geek buddies (shamelessly stereotyped as socially awkward, angry and timid) get laid off. They collectively decide to seek revenge by writing a software program that siphons off pennies from bank customers in such small amounts that they're sure nobody will eever notice the theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars over a couple of years.
The plan seems surprisingly plausible, as does the program written to make it happen.
Livingston is so genially low-key (as are the oddly disconnected appearances by his girl friend, "Friend's" Jennifer Alston, who is so clumsily inserted as to suggest she filmed it at different times) that we pretty much stop caring what happens to him (since he doesn't why should we?).
The movie's great creation is the mumbling, resentful, aging nerd Milton, played by Stephen Root ("Newsradio"). Milton has accumulated a lifetime of grievances, from seeing his favorite stapler switched, to having his cubicle repeatedly moved, to having been laid off years earlier but never told. When Peter asks him to turn his radio down, Milton mumbles that he won't, because he has the right to keep his radio on from 9 to ll a.m. Cowed but hostile, Milton manages even to get screwed out of his piece of cake at an office party. But he never stops keeping score, and we never doubt he'll get even.
"Office Space" has some wickedly savage depictions of how work sometimes sucks in the age of the hi-tech company. For people at the bottom rung of giant corporations, work is temporal, boring and low-paying.
The young especially are moved around, alienated and exploited at will. For all that "Office Space" is a comedy, Judge doesn't seem to be kidding about his dead-on workplace depictions.
In "Office Space," layers of bosses fuss about memos and procedures, and the inevitable team of management consultants show up to wantonly toss people out the window.
That the consultants (known as the two "Bobs") instinctively read Peter's disenchantment, arrogance and defiance as obvious signs of a worker destined for higher management is one of the neater twists of the movie. "Office Space" is the first live-action feature directed by the creator of "Beavis and Butt-head" and "King of the Hill." An expansion of three animated shorts created by Judge for TV over the past decade, it has a wandering, disjointed feel to it. It doesn't really hang together as a movie, but more as a satisfying collection of biting work depictions.
These portrayals are almost disturbingly credible. Anybody who works for somebody else will find something in it to relate to and laugh about. But you can't see "Office Space" without wishing that the weirdly geeky Milton gets a series or movie all of his own next time around.
Mail-to: jonkatz@slashdot.org
more geek films
At least get the names right... Jennifer Alston?
Yeah, but the part in which they beat the hell outta the fax machine is hilarious
was when they threw an unagreeable printer into the back of their car, drove to a field in the middle of nowhere, and proceeded to beat it down with bats (in slow mo w/ gansta rap blasting).
That movie has some unforgettable moments I recommend it to any geek.
Definitely Office Space. Rushmore was funny at times and had all of that character development and crap like that, but Office Space had me laughing 90 percent of the time.
I haven't seen Office Space but I know I sure wasted a lot of money seeing Rushmore because it blew. Had to be one of the worst movies I have ever paid for.
This movie wasn't that funny. I chuckled maybe twice. It was more depressing than funny. Mainly, because the crap they are making fun of isn't really making fun of it. It's just the truth. It's like there is no punch line. Just the sudden realization that this is no joke. Bosses do say, "..If you could get right on that; that would be grrreat." And the boxes they stick people in.... well, I have one. That's no joke. And yes, at times I do stare at my computer screen doing nothing but writing comments on Slashdot. Because, I would rather peel my eye balls then continue debugging code for the next hour.
Thanks now I have a case of the Mondays. hehe
Go see it by yourself. Or are you attached to your roommate's hip or something?
I have seen both movies and Rushmore is by far the better of the two (and one of the best movies I have seen in a while). The idea of Office Space sounds funny but I thoght the actual movie was pretty weak. There are definitely funny moments but overall I thought the dialog seemed very scripted. See Rushmore in the theater and rent Office Space in a few months.
Why should you care? If your roomate doesn't want to see it, then your roomate doesn't want to see it. Just go see it by yourself. This isn't loveline for chrissakes.
Before you jump all over it, they said the technique was OLD in the movie just that it was still "not fixed"
Then I guess you're not into entertainment at all so perhaps you should just sit at home and stare at a blank wall with your room mate.
Or is it that Beavis and Butthead hit a little too close to home with you and your friend?
Schizopolis, man.
Wrong, JK. Milton hardly fits in--he's the least real character in the movie. The script was particularly harsh and mean to him all the way through (latter parts included) without having to. I didn't sympathize with Milton, I was ticked off at the film creators for sticking in this whipping boy out of lack of creativity and a stupid plot. His own *series?* Please.
Not to say I didn't like the movie itself. I did like it, and recommend it as a strong matinee, but a tough call at full price.
Hey man, cheer up! The purpose of the movie is to make you *laugh* at the things that happen in the workplace, and not take it so seriously. Hell, if it's that bad where you work, GET A NEW JOB!!
"PC LOAD LETTER?! What the fuck does that mean?!!"
you just made my day.
PBS already made The Cuckoo's Egg into a film. It was pretty well done IMHO.
you must not be from texas.....
King of the Hill is not just Hilarryus, it's also a dead on depiction of most of the folks I grew up around....
I'm surprised this made-for-TV movie wasn't discussed on
Slashdot. It was pretty lame (hey, what is the 8-digit code
that will completely DESTROY the internet?), but I liked the
idea that the bad guy was the CEO of a supremely successful
company that was trying to take over the world.
It was also fun trying to figure out what OS we were seeing
on all those big LCD screens. The bad guys were obviously
running Windows95, but the "Net Force" guys seemed bo
be running something else, maybe Elightenment or BE.
Actually, if you watch the opening credits, the whole movie was based on the "Milton" shorts which revolved around a cartoon character that had the same voice as the milton in the movie who was bullied by a boss who had the same voice as the boss (Lumbergh) in the movie. I believe the shorts appeared on In Living Color or some other sketch comedy type of show from the early part of this decade, so in a sense, he did kind of have his own on going "series".
you should of pulled a BOFH and slipped in the "bad" toner =-)
Heh
Do you people *really* believe that Smokin' Goat McGruff was serious when asking "How do I convince him to go see it?"
Yes, the static shock gag in itself was worth
the whole movie. I must get them at least five
times a day during a dry day. Management
is building new offices, and perhaps (perhaps)
this film will make them buy some new carpets.
What would you do with a million bucks?
Two chicks at once..
Having recently been able to relate to the Katz flamers (due to the book excerpt thing), I'm finding I now enjoy the threads that follow Katz's articles a lot more than the articles themselves. They're smarter and deeper.
Does anyone else feel this way?
Mithrandir has already been done.
A self-referential recursive touch with built in irony would be if people like the ones depicted in the movie sat down and debugged the review like the technical geeks they are.
Here then, presented for your idle amusement, are a couple of faults: one minor, one a fatal error.
1) Peter doesn't get promoted by Bill Lumbergh. He gets promoted by the "Bobs". Bill Lumbergh opposes his promotion.
2) "The plan seems surprisingly plausible, as does the program written to make it happen."
Far from it.
This program was the weakest technical point in the movie - a *virus* that runs on the accounting MAINFRAME, written on a Macintosh, and transmitted with a floppy. Anybody who has the slightest clue knows this is totally ridiculous.
/* As an aside, anybody notice how when Peter shuts down his Mac, he gets the "C:> " prompt? I haven't used macs much, but suspect this might be a bug in the movie. */
In order for things to seem funny you must:
1. have a sense of humor
2. see something that appeals to your sense of humor.
I am giving you the benefit of the doubt with number 1, so you probably just picked the wrong movie. It's either that, or..
When Hollywood does war movies they hire retired
military as tech advisors. When they do Doctor
movies they hire Doctors as tech advisors. So, when they do geek movies, why no geek tech advisors? (I just went through the credit listing at imdb.com and no tech advisors.)
Do you think RMS, ESR or some other prominent
geek would be willing?
First publically flaunted in one of the Superman movies. Richard Pryor playing a programmer that siphoned off the partial cents from interest calculations. Based on real events.
;).
Remember, moderation in all things (esp. illegal ones
My new book "Seven Lean Years: America's New High-Tech Underclass" sounds just like this movie!!! WOW! Somebody in Hollywood has a brain after all!
http://www.os2hq.com/
Are you stupid!!!
The combination of the OS's and the different uses of the computer was put in there on purpose to add humor!! because of course only the true geeks such as ourselves would get picky...
They can't make a computer comedy without poking fun at the software that we use too...
Relax- it was part of the joke!
RIP Gene Siskel
Thats kinda cool... a katz movie review. Keep it up. With no more siskel and ebert team im gonna haveta look to slash for the thumbs up.
t0ast
This movie is the spitting image of life in
Austin. Large parts of it were filmed here
apparently. There is a real-life Morning Wood apartment complex. That still cracks me up.
Michael Bolton reminds me of Herbert H-Dog, the
occasional Onion columnist character coming straight out of Accounts Reeecieeevable.
I think the best part is when his boss is banging
his girlfriend and takes a sip from the coffee mug. "Yep. Grrrreat." That's art, man.
-bankesean
I guess some lab rats really do have this attitude. At my school, working in the labs was a total plum -- like a rifleman being pulled off walking point and sent to the motor pool at the rear -- and even the clever, ambitious kids treated it like a real job.
It's probably best for both of us that you never screwed up one of my reports because you couldn't bother to get off your lazy ass and get to work.
the bobs were consultants...they cant officially
promote anyone. lumbergh promoted him. the bobs
just convinced him he should do it.
haha.. I dont care what anyone says-- "Office Space" was without a doubt the funniest movie I've seen in a long f*ckin time. No, it didnt have all the features of a "great" movie, but it left all those in the theatre with a smile on their face and most with the desire to see it again... Oddly enough, all of the 9 people I went with work in an office with several resemblances to the characters in "Office Space"..
If I had to create a movie from a computer book, it would either be from Microserfs, which would be funny, or "Mastering Linux, 4th Ed." which would rival only Dune for "longest, most boring Sunday afternoon nap movie"...
Well, I live in Texas and don't really know anybody like that....
:-)
I plan on seeing the movie, though
That movie rules - if you hang out with computer nerds at all, it's become a hilarious cult movie, not some serious thing! 50% of nerd parties I've gone to since that movie came out on tape have played it.
It's so damn funny! How can you take it seriously?
"Are you sure this guy is alright?"
"Don't worry! He's ELITE!"
God, I can't even type that without giggling.
If I wanted to hear a soundtrack with lyrics like "f***ing gangstas" I'd go to "how stella got her groove back" or some other film that better fits that genre. Rap isn't exactly the "right" music for a film like this. The only thing that got this movie an 'R' rating is the incessant use of explitives. The most violent it got was when they beat the hell out of the FAX machine, and who doesn't have a piece of equipment that they'd kick the crap out of if they got the chance? I've got an HP printer thats just asking for it...
It was the perfect soundtrack for this movie. The Onion was onto that sort of contrast a long time ago, read this article http://www.theonion.com/onion3506/accountz_reeceev in.html
So, therefore, the discussions that follow them will all be full of opinions. I thought we all understood this, but apparantly, you don't. There is a reason we call people who review movies "critics", isn't there? And, on forums like Slashdot, we're all allowed to be critics if we want to.
And what's this "linux users seem to do that a lot" stuff, anyway? Not everyone who reads Slashdot is a Linux user. In any case generalisms like that are pretty bad examples of "trash[ing] something you don't know" since you can't possibly know all Linux users. Finally, grow up.
...but it's Jennifer *Anniston*, not "Alston".
--
This post brought to you by synaptik, in glorious PLAINTEXT.
HSJ$$*&#^!#+++ATH0
NO CARRIER
I think you may be missing a little of the point in speculating about why we should/shouldn't care about any of the "protagonists" of the film. The movie wasn't about them, it was about us, all the little hassles cubicle inhabitants deal with every day, and the things we'd all do if we just didn't give a damn about getting fired. It's like Dilbert, but without the goofy animals and the attempts at humor. It doesn't -have- to _try_ to be funny... it's got the "ha ha, only serious," quality that so many geeks love.
The plot seems to have only been there as a vehicle to link together all the other scenes... I never found myself caring if they were going to get away with the money or not. None of the previews I saw contained so much as a hint of the actual plot, which would suggest to me that the producers rated it about as highly as I did.
There wasn't much in the way of conventional gags or quotable one-liners in the movie (though I did like, "Why should I have to change? He's the one who sucks."), but I still laughed my ass off several times. Why? Because it's all true. This is satire, folks... very accurate, barbed satire...
Personally, I've always wished that Beavis and Butthead were real people so that they could be slowly tortured to death for their crimes against intelligence and good taste. The mere sound of that stupid laugh is enough to send me into paroxyms of homicidal rage.
And I thought Office Space was hilarious.
The trick refers to the little bits of meat left over when you're slicing salami in a deli.
I first heard of it in the 70s. Might even have been earlier.
...phil
"For a list of the ways which technology has failed to improve our quality of life, press 3."
Posted by stodge:
Yeah....rah....rah.....another geek movie....yeah....right on....yeah.....geek....yeah....right on
(me trying to sound excited about another geek movie)
Posted by DonR:
So? You're in the IT profession (I'm assuming) The market has never been better. Sure, you can work at a job until they lay YOU off, but why not work at a job until YOU decide that you want to go elsewhere, for more money, better benefits, just feel like moving, whatever! The IT profession is so fast moving right now, it makes it a lot of fun to be in!
Some here are already giving Jon a hard time about focusing on "geek films" and whatnot. I just wanted to throw-in my $0.02 by saying that over the last three years I've been waiting to see characters from my discipline reflected in the movies. I've gotten the hang of hollywood's view of doctors, lawyers, and law-enforcement officers and would love to see more programmers. Ok, so maybe we're not all that interesting, but the fact that movie-makers are trying more to appeal to our demographic is. (To me, at least.)
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
That's a good way to put it. It triggered some thoughts...
The transition from trickle to torrent is what he's spotlighting. Katz hasn't claimed that there's never before been a film that appealed to geeks, or anything remotely similar. As you've said, he's calling attention to the sudden upswing. He's talking about the rise in frequency, and you're saying: so what, we've been getting a droplet per year for two decades now. To put it in terms that everyone can understand: One person is celebrating the sudden mainstream attention linux has been getting, and people are saying "Bah, linux is old; I've been using it since 1991".
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
Bah, that's old. Characters have been inaccurate representations since ancient greece. ;-)
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
You said "suck".
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
If you can't appreciate the movie as a comedy, maybe you should take the film's central message to heart: if you're not happy in your cubicle, change careers.
The "cue the foo posts in 3, 2, 1..." posts will commence with no subsequent foo posts in 3, 2, 1...
If you're a programmer for a large faceless corporation, see Office Space. It's so true that I laughed my ass off. Rushmore has it's moments, but it's not as much of a true comedy. Of course it's also going to be gone from the theaters in a week or two, so you might want to see it while you can.
That whole scene was hilarious- the guy with 34 pieces of "flare" is the spittin' image of one of the waiters at the local TGI Fridays. Hilarious! I almost had a hernia I laughed so hard!
One word..
;-P
MOXIE!!
-- I'm the root of all that's evil, but you can call me cookie..
-Put your right hand in the box.
-What's in the box?
-Pain.
Who didn't *die* when the unpronouncable last name computer guy (we've all worked with him ... or you WILL) started busting a serious old school move in the living room. Down to the fscking popping! That was the best. Oh wait a minute... does anyone know what I mean? :)
Geek : 4 (0.5%)
:-))
(Well, I don't have the Price Checks to do anymore, and I have to keep myself occupied.
Regards, Ralph.
WARNING: the following flame is meant for humor
and/or parody purposes only. Do not injest.
Katz, you stink! Get off my website! This movie
has nothing to do with geek stuff, but my deep
psychological problems forced me to read your review
anyways! I bet those Beavis and Butthead dudes
are giving you kickbacks for reviewing their movie!
How dare you make money off your work! Sellout!
Fogie!
was refreshing
Ah good to hear! Things like movies usually take a long time to make it into this part of the world (unless its the blockbuster type movies, in which case it usually is about 4-6 weeks post USA release).
Life is complete only for brief intervals in between toys or projects -- John Dalton
Down under here, a couple of years ago, some guys got done for exactly this. IIRC it was the Commonwealth Bank (Which Bank?). Basically all they did was to siphon the partial cents from each interest calculation of every account into their own separate account. Doesn't sound like much, but when you work out that every day there are a couple of million accounts that their doing this to, it suddenly adds up to very large sums of spare cash.
Life is complete only for brief intervals in between toys or projects -- John Dalton
Why is it that whenever someone mentions Mike Judge, they always mention Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill, but never Daria? Granted, Judge isn't as directly involved with Daria as he was with B&B or is with KotH, but Daria is probably his best creation ever. She's actually *intellectual*, and it's her mocking a stupid world, rather than being part of it. It's a slice of life from the exact point of view I had in high school, except I didn't have a proverbial Jane to give me comfort by being miserable company.
---
"'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
Quine "quine?
The scene where they were infecting the system with Michael's virus definitely reminded of Resevoir Dogs, right down to the black suit Peter was wearing. But the best part was the way the shots, music, slo-mo and stop frames built this up into some complicated scheme, then Peter comes back (with everything back to normal) and said "Gee, that wasn't that hard." I was just rolling!
:)
And I just have to say that it's a good thing I saw this on a friday. If I had gone to work the day after seeing this, I don't know what I would've done
And you may rest assured that Hollywood will portray characters from your discipline every bit as accurately as they do doctors and lawyers and law-enforcement officers.
:)
Now somebody get busy and FLAME KATZ! I can't do it all myself
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.
In a high-tech company where each person has been moved from cube to cube, and the team from area to area, and building to building (a half dozen times in the last 18 months), the title "Office Space" says it all.
It seems that the few cubic feet that our cubicles take up are far more worthwhile than we, the employees who inhabit them. Then again, in a company with approximately 10,000 employees, how can you be more than a number?
stupidest movie ever made? you mean BEST movie ever made! norm macdonald rocks.
yep.
anyone remember the "live video" on the machines in that movie (which I think were Macs)? Only problem was, you could see the Quicktime scrollbar moving along beneath the "live" video!
I also thought it was dumb how they made the movie politically correct by making the girl the computer genius and the boy unknowledgable, versus the boy being the one with the knowledge like it was in the book. Realistically, the boy was the more likely candidate for computer know-how anyway .
this movie was funny as hell!
i really liked the part when the three friends
went gangsta on the fax machine.....
the whole thing rocked!
and Katz did a good job with the review....
Om Mani Padme Hum
I really want to see this movie. My roomate claims that it must suck because it comes from the Beavis and Butthead/King of the Hill guy and as you all know both those cartoons suck hardcore. How do I convince him to go see it?
Look like you've discovered demoronizer, or you gave up on that microsoft wierd processor that put ? instead of ' everywhere
Hackers. Man did that movie ever suck.
Not even mentioning the lack of plot and bad actors. But what the fsck were they doing on those mock up computers?
That was a sad, sad movie.
This sig is false.
I watched it with my girlfriend and both agreed that we didn't laugh because it was so funny but because it was so true. It reminded so much of my old job that sometimes I almost felt like my old boss was going to appear on screen. I finally found a hi-tech company with the right attitude, but this movie reminded me of old times!
BTW, I get more zapped by my car than by my office furniture. Yesterday morning was so bad that my arm was numb for a few minutes. Maybe it's because I shake my butt on the car seat like Micheal Bolton did in the movie!
M.
Assuming that there really is such a thing as a 'Geek Film Movement Thing' what would be good ...
to film next ? Microserfs ? The Cuckoo's Egg ?
My vote's for the Llama book
.c
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -- Goethe
Hmm. I can relate. Companies don't care about
their employees anymore. We're expendable. Anyone
who has been through a re-org knows this.
http://members.xoom.com/Lycadican
Geek Boy
********************************************
Superstition is a word the ignorant use to describe their ignorance. -Sifu
See Whichever one has the "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me" trailer before it! That was the funniest part of my whole movie going experience last weekend!
"If there's one movie you will see this summer, it should be... Star Wars!!
If there are two movies you will see this summer, see Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me"
I can't fathom why anyone would watch it. Beavis and Butthead was a stupid show about stupid people, any way you look at it. About as stupid as SouthPark. I feel sorry for those people who have such an unrefined sense of humor that simply watching cartoon characters swear pushes their buttons. King of the Hill I've never watched, but from the commercials, it seems like a show about Beavis and Butthead's parents.
Then again, there's tv for you. 2 words. Lizard Brain.
-lx
...which is exactly what the character in the movie says: "Yeah, they did it in Superman III, and some hackers did it in the 70's and got caught for it."
:).
No one pretended to be clever in the movie, which was refreshing - you didn't have some one magically cracking into the CIA's computer from a van parked outside (a la "Mission Impossible"). And when they check their bank statement after running their siphoning program, they find out the program had a bug in it and transferred too much money. That, too, was refreshing: a confident hacker's code had a bug in it and really screwed up (how many times have you seen that in the work place?
Soulfry
./'ers will appreciate this movie. And don't get hung up by the fact that at one moment the guy's screen is a Mac, and the next moment it's showing a DOS "C:\" prompt. Just take it as a cross-platform jab at computers ;)
The "gangsta" soundtrack and film style of some of the scenes was the genius of this movie.
Soulfry
...was when he was dreaming that his boss was having sex with his girlfriend and he (the boss) takes a sip from his coffee mug.
Soulfry
It does to "Tough guy vs the Mob" movies what Scream did to the slasher genre. It was a riot, despite the blood and blow-ups.
-- What you do today will cost you a day of your life.
"I've never seen so many dead hookers in my life!"
"god knows I have."
s/nospam\.//;
My suggestion would be "The First $20 Million Is Always the Hardest" by Po Bronson, his second novel. It's a thinly disguised novel about Silicon Valley culture and fictional creation of a Java-like universal language.
Strangely both of Bronson's novel deals with workplace. His first novel, Bombadier is about the absurd happening in a bond sales office.
A computer that's a Mac one minute and a PC the next? I own one. (Anyone remember the PowerMac 6100 DOS compatibles?)
I have to be a smart ass because although my computer has 2 motherboards, neither is terribly useful.
Laugh while you can, monkey boy!
Considering the VERY prominent soundtrack accompanyment to that brilliant scene, along with the camera angles and slo-mo work, I think some of the major influences for that sequence come from the world of rap video, possibly the early 90's video for the Geto Boyz "My Mind Playin' Tricks On Me" with some influence from The Beastie Boys "So What'cha Want."
The characters of Beavis and Butthead were stupid. The show was not. Come on, you're talking about a show that had the lead character quote Shakespeare in reaction to Van Halen's "Right Now": "Words, words, words." If can't grok the irony involved in something like that, don't bother trying to convince others that the show was stupid.
I guess I am the sad type of person to notice all of it but...
Did anyone else notice the computers were mainly mac based... but that they had DOS boot screens, and when they shut down they went to the infamous C:\> prompt?
And all the computer software boxes in the background.. they could have gone to developers and gotten real boxes, not really old versions of dBase and stuff.
All movies do this... can't they get a consultant to get it right for them? One movie I saw not too long ago must have had a consultant because all the screens were Linux... damn, I wish I could remember the title... too many movies on Sundance Channel.
Ah well...
- Hugh Buchanan
- Userfriendly.com
there are some great satirical touches, like michael bolton rocking out to hardcore rap one minute and locking his door in fear of a black flower seller the next. and i was so happy to see someone else noticing the office-static-shock syndrome that any outstanding flaws in the movie were instantly forgiven.
oh, and also it was a GEEK MOVIE!!! from that new GEEK MOVIE genre!!! so that was a plus.
-- in china, chinese food is just called food.
if you think those 'cartoons' suck, i suggest that both you and your roommate just don't bother. go see 'jawbreaker' or something instead. i'm sure you will find it fulfilling.
i hear that MANSON is in it!!!
-- in china, chinese food is just called food.
Rushmore is a better film, I think, but office space is really funny.
My only problem with officespace is the end, which was so lame as to erode much of the good will I had towards the movie.
Forget your roommate.
I have no real opinion on B&B, other than that it didn't suck like I expected it to. King of the Hill, on the other hand, is one of the few brilliant half hours of television in modern times. Fat kid's funny!
I've only got enough cash to see one movie (I spent the rest on a new computer) so should I go see Rushmore or Office Space?
yeah, thats why i thought it was so funny...i work at a university, and the first time i saw that on the good 'ol 4M, I said "what the fuck does that mean?!" ....not too professional :)
*sorry, forgot my passwd when i posted this!*
Katz is usually pretty good, but he was way off
on this one. This movie wasn't oscar material by
any means, but there is more to it than Jon gives
credit too. The beat-down scene with the fax
plays on every mob/gangster/ghetto movie cliche.
And Livingston (Peter) is great, he's supposed to
be indifferent... that's the character.
My gf and I just got back from seeing it - we practically peed our pants. However, I agree with Jon's conclusion - it's not really that strong of a script, and I just as easily could've waited to rent it.
But goddamn that was funny.
The most brilliant character in the movie was Milton, played by Steven Root, who's not only the weird owner of the radio staton on News Radio, but also does the voices of Bill Dautrive and Mr Strickland on KOTH. We did NOT recognize him in this movie. He's SCARY in Office Space.
Brilliant.