Office Space Review

Review #104

Synopsis
Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) hates his job at Initech and so do his two best friends, Michael (David Herman) and Samir (Ajay Naidu). When Peter learns Michael and Samir are getting fired, they hatch a plan to get back at their company and steal millions.

Review
Office Space can sound a bit dated based on the main character’s job duties (converting all dates from two to four digits for the start of the 21^st century) but it soars far past its setting. The humor is just as great whether watching for the first time now or when it first came out in 1999. If you work in an office like I do then there will certainly be something you can relate to.

Maybe I just relate to it pretty well since I also work in a cubicle programming all day (although nothing as mundane as what Peter endures) but I absolutely adored this movie. I couldn’t help but compare it to Christmas Vacation, not in content but how they satire their settings. Christmas Vacation took a standard family holiday party and amplified the little triggers and annoyances, like the in-laws and obnoxious neighborhood lights. Office Space does the same thing only in an office. Think of anything you hate about working in an office and this film pokes fun at it. There is an incompetent manager, a paranoid co-worker, the office printer is always jamming, and other small things that you may not even think about. They are all here.

Right away, this movie’s opening credits scene perfectly sets up how boring the main characters’ lives are and what kind of people they are. Not even five minutes into the film and it is easy to understand Peter, Michael, and Samir. I can’t think of many films that can establish their characters without them even saying a word, or rather without full or coherent sentences. Not only that, but Mike Judge does a great job of creating running gags. Many of them die off about halfway through the film but the longer they go on, they funnier they seem to get.

The credits state that the movie is based off Judge’s Milton animated shorts, so it’s interesting that he is regulated to a background character, almost like the b-plot of your standard sitcom episode. This actually was an ingenious move because I don’t think the character of Milton could have carried the movie himself. However, when his story intersects with Peter’s, the result is brilliant.

Stephen Root is perfect as Milton. Root’s bumbling and tough talk when the boss isn’t around had me laughing every time he was on screen. David Herman and Ajay Naidu as Michael and Samir were excellent as well. I feel almost any actor with decent comedic timing could have played Peter but Ron Livingston does good in the role. And Jennifer Aniston, well, she’s Jennifer Aniston, how can she be anything but great?

Many times throughout the movie, particularly when Peter, Michael and Samir are together, there is gangster rap playing. It sounds hilariously misplaced. It’s not what you’d expect as background music with these three but is somehow spot-on and somehow works in the atmosphere.

Office Space is a fantastic parody about working in an office. Whether you’ve actually worked in an office full of cubicles yourself or not, chances are you can still connect with the characters and some of the people and workplace irritations they have to deal with, making it accessible to everyone.

Rating
4.5/5

Favorite Quote
Peter: It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s that I just don’t care.

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Mike Judge – Director / Writer
John Frizzell – Composer

Ron Livingston – Peter Gibbons
Jennifer Aniston – Joanna
David Herman – Michael Bolton
Ajay Naidu – Samir Nagheenanajar
Diedrich Bader – Lawrence
Stephen Root – Milton Waddams
Gary Cole – Bill Lumbergh
Richard Riehle – Tom Smykowski
Alexandra Wentworth – Anne
Joe Bays – Dom Portwood
John C. McGinley – Bob Slydell
Paul Wilson – Bob Porter
Todd Duffey – Brian
Dr. Swanson – Michael McShane

Horrible Bosses Review

Synopsis
Nick (Jason Bateman), Kurt (Jason Sudeikis), and Dale (Charlie Day) hatch a plan to kill their bosses when they each push the three friends too far.

Review
Sometimes I will watch a movie simply based on the cast. I usually like slap-stick comedies like Horrible Bosses, but what really drew me towards the film was the cast. Having Jason Bateman, Jason Sudeikis, and Charlie Day play off each other was a great decision. Then adding in Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston, Collin Farrell and Jamie Foxx is just icing on the cake.

The three main cast members each have their own unique comedic styles. Bateman, Sudeikis, and Day are able to bounce off each other to side-splitting effect. Their timing and deliveries are nearly flawless. Some of the best moments come when these three are together. Foxx is only in a handful of scenes with the guys. He never outshines any of them, but he does well not to be eclipsed by them either. I think if his part would have been bigger it would have been too much, so he maintains a good balance with the three leads.

Each of the three bosses are horrible for different reasons. Harken (Spacey) is condescending toward Nick (Bateman), Harris (Aniston) sexually harasses Dale (Day), and Pallitt is self-centered and doesn’t care about his employees, especially Kurt (Sudeikis). Farrell’s performance surprised me the most because I haven’t seen him in a comedy before. Spacey easily pulls of the intimidating corporate president with ease. I have been a fan of Aniston for a while, but after watching her in R-rated comedies such as this and We’re the Millers, she is becoming one of my favorite comedic actresses.

Although the cast is great, the script is equally hilarious. It is equal parts crude and humorous. There are so many memorable quotes they can easily be quoted for days. At times the script can be vulgar but it never becomes obnoxiously so. There are also moments of sincerity but not so much that it becomes hypocritical. It manages a fine balance between the two.

Horrible Bosses manages to work on so many levels. The awesome cast and fantastic script, not to mention some great cameos, make this film a stand-out comedy.

Rating
4/5

Favorite Quote
Det. Hagan: “Do you want to explain why you were going 61 in a 25 zone? One block from the victim’s house just moments after he was shot dead?”
Nick: “I was drag racing. I’m a drag racer.”
Det. Samson: “You were drag racing? In a prius?”
Nick: “…I don’t win a lot.”

Trailer

Cast & Crew
Seth Gordon – Director
Michael Markowitz – Screenplay
John Francis Daley – Screenplay
Johnathan M. Goldstein – Screenplay
Micahel Markowitz – Story
Christopher Lennertz – Composer

Jason Bateman – Nick Hendricks
Jason Sudeikis – Kurt Buckman
Charlie Day – Dale Arbus
Jennifer Aniston – Dr. Julia Harris, DDS
Kevin Spacey – Dave Harken
Colin Farrell – Bobby Pellitt
Jamie Foxx – Dean ‘MF’ Jones
Donald Sutherland – Jack Pellitt
PJ Byrne – Kenny Sommerfeld
Brian George – Atmanand (Voice)
Julie Bowen – Rhonda Harken
Wendell Pierce – Detective Hagan
Ron White – Detective Samson

We’re the Millers Review

Synopsis
When David Clark (Jason Sudeikis), a small-time pot dealer, gets robbed, his supplier (Ed Helms) tasks him with picking up a “smidge” of marijuana from Mexico. To avoid suspicion, he hires a stripper (Jennifer Aniston), a runaway (Emma Roberts), and a kid from his apartment (Will Poulter) to act as his family.

Review
Whenever you see a film preview, you set in your mind how you are going to feel about that movie once you see it. Whether or not you are aware of it, those thoughts are there. Sometimes these notions can be detrimental to what we think about the movie, even after it’s finished. But every now and then, a movie comes along and exceeds any expectations you have already set in your head. We’re the Millers, for me, is one of those movies. After seeing the previews, I thought it would just be an average comedy. I knew I would it enjoy it, but I never imagined it would as entertaining as it was.

One thing that surprised me is how well the main characters were fleshed out. With four core cast members, it can be difficult to explore the relationships between all of them, but We’re the Millers managed to do it with satisfying results. Not only was the parent-children relationship between Sudeikis/Aniston and Roberts/Poulter explored, but also the relationship between Sudeikis and Aniston (husband and wife), Sudeikis and Poulter (father and son), Aniston and Roberts (mother and daughter), and Poulter and Roberts (brother and sister). Yea, that’s a lot of character exploration in two hours, yet it was pulled it off without feeling rushed or hollow. A truly impressive feat for less than two hours of screen time.

With the exploration of all the different relationships, it was fun to see the Millers grow together, too. I don’t use “heartfelt” to describe many comedies, but We’re the Millers really made you care for the characters. Adding factors to strain their relationships, but then bring them back together, almost like they were the family they were trying to pretend to be, deepened the characters. Like I said above, the characters were really fleshed out, something uncommon in most comedies, and it made the movie that much more enjoyable.

Poulter was extraordinary as the awkward teenager. He does an excellent job of standing with veteran comedians Aniston and Sudeikis and not being overshadowed. Nick Offerman (Parks and Recreation) and Kathryn Hahn (Step Brothers) also have noteworthy performances as a couple going through a midlife crisis. They have a recurring presence throughout the film and shine whenever they are on screen. Hahn’s energy is a good balance to Offerman’s seriousness.

We’re the Millers carries and R-rating, but I think it could have easily pulled a PG-13 rating. This movie could have easily accommodated a wider audience, despite its raunchy nature, simply by removing the F-bombs. Not that I have a problem with the word “f**K” (I use it frequently myself), but the movie could have made some tweaks to the dialog without losing any of its humor, while at the same time appealing to a wider range of moviegoers. I’m sure the TV edited version will help this.

I really enjoy going to the movie theater and leaving feeling the film surpassed my expectations. Great character moments, spot-on humor, and nonstop laughs makes We’re the Millers a surprisingly heartfelt and stand-out comedy.

Rating
4/5