Office Space

Year: 1999

Grade: A

Country: USA

Director: Judge

Review

a modern comedy classic. perhaps the last great proletariat film of the 20th century. everyone knows how good mike judge is as a writer, but watching this film over and over you start to see that he actually has a knack for directing as well. there’s a scene early in the film in which the protagonist is walking into his cubical to get ready for the day’s work. judge employs an overhead shot to strengthen the theme of confinement. it’s a small touch, but it works pretty well because all we see are walls surrounding livingston’s character. had he chosen an eye level shot we would have seen over the cubical walls and the effect would be lost. small things like this also serve a secondary purpose – they liven up a film and give it a freshness that would be lost if shot in a strictly straight-ahead style. judge, like hughes before him, uses unrealistic sequences to mix up the style and add an extra dimension to the film. my favorite example of hughes employing this comes in planes, trains and automobiles when john candy is driving the car between two 18-wheelers and momentarily appears to steve martin as a devil. judge also mixes things up with well-directed musical sequences (one when they’re planting the virus and another when they’re destroying the copying machine). at any rate, this is a great film that stays funny after multiple viewings.