Office Space - The office worker's bible

As I type this, I'm actually sitting in an office being paid to… well, NOT write film reviews (clue: my job involves spreadsheets - yawn).  In fact, I've spent much of my adult life sitting in offices looking at spreadsheets while getting paid a bit, but actually trying to make my stay in my swivel chair a little more enjoyable than it actually is.  In short... I can totally identify with the characters in the low budget adult comedy 'Office Space.'

It predates Ricky Gervais' 'The Office' (or Steve Carrell's slightly later US version) and, although both TV shows expands on what it's like to sit in the same chair at the same boxed-in desk for most of your waking hours, 'Office Space' did it first.  And it also did it in a more 'succinct' kind of manner.  It didn't have multiple series to flesh out its characters, so, although we may get a few more stereotypes here, doesn't mean they're any the less able to be identified with.

It's about… you guessed it - an office worker - just an ordinary guy at an ordinary desk in an ordinary workplace (that could have been filmed around my very person right now).  The difference is, that, after years of towing the line and doing what he's told - no matter how unfair - he decides he's had enough.  And, by doing so, becomes the hero of everyone in a similar position (i.e. me).  He does what so many of us only dream of doing - he rebels and tells his bosses to… I'll let you use your imagination.

'Office Space' is great.  It's a comedy for adults which plays on many of their very existences.  I haven't watched it for a while, but now I have I'm pleased to say that it holds us as well today as it ever did.  As long as there are middle management bosses who get their employees to do more work for the same money this film will always be relevant.  And, from the twenty or so years I've been sitting here doing just that, I can't see this film EVER not being an accurate portrayal of modern life.

Oh, and if you need any additional motivation to watch this - it also has Jennifer Anniston as an equally put-upon waitress, who shows that you don't have to sit behind a desk to be exploited and degraded.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have 'TPS reports' to get on with.

9/10 almost as perfect as The Godfather