Office Space

Office Space is a 1999 American comedy film satirizing work life in a typical 1990s software company. Written and directed by Mike Judge, it focuses on a handful of individuals fed up with their jobs portrayed by Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, Gary Cole, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, and Diedrich Bader.

Plot
In the Initech office, the insecure Peter Gibbons hates his job and the abusive Division VP Bill Lumbergh that has just hired two consultants to downsize the company. His best friends are the software engineers Michael Bolton and Samir Nagheenanajar that also hate Initech, and his next door neighbor Lawrence. His girlfriend Anne is cheating on him but she convinces Peter to visit the hypnotherapist Dr. Swanson. Peter tells how miserable his life is and Dr. Swanson hypnotizes him and he goes into a state of ecstasy. However, Dr. Swanson dies immediately after giving the hypnotic suggestion to Peter. He dates the waitress Joanna and changes his attitude in the company, being promoted by the consultants. When he discovers that Michael and Samir will be fired, they decide to plant a virus in the account system to embezzle fraction of cents in each financial operation into Peter's account. However Michael commits a mistake in the software and instead of decimals, they steal a large amount....

Trivia
After poor box office, the movie gained cult status on video. Mike Judge has said more people talk to him about this movie than any project he has ever worked on. Judge was offered a chance to make a sequel "Office Space 2: Still Renting," but said that he had been through enough anguish over the first one that he didn't want to put himself through the experience again. When Peter is in the meeting room, on the white board behind him there is a complicated flow chart titled "Planning to Plan." The set for Chotchkie's is actually the restaurant "the Alligator grille" in Austin, Texas. The Alligator Grille closed down as of 2009. Chotchkie's gets its name from the Yiddish word meaning a cheap trinket or knick-knack. The word is spelled 'tchotchke', but is pronounced the same. At the party for Tom (Richard Riehle), Drew (Greg Pitts) tells Peter (Ron Livingston) about all of the men that have slept with Peter's girlfriend Joanna (Jennifer Aniston). Among those he mentions is David Rennie, the film's editor. Smykowski's Lawyer (Rob Newhouse) shares his name with Robert Newhouse, a well-known player for the Dallas Cowboys in the '70s-'80s. The team is based in Texas, Mike Judge's home state. Chotchkie's is a take-off on the popular T.G.I. Friday's restaurant chain. The T.G.I. Friday's waiting staff wear striped shirts and suspenders adorned with buttons and name tags. The restaurants themselves are frequently decorated with assorted knick-knacks and memorabilia. A reference is made to T.G.I. Friday's when someone mentions "Thank God it's Friday" while at the restaurant. While in the car to Tom's party, Peter, played by Ron Livingston mentions to Joanna that the Nazis had "pieces of flair" they made Jews wear. In Band of Brothers, Livingston's character of Lewis Nixon assists in the liberation a Nazi concentration camp.

Box office
Office Space was released on February 19, 1999 in 1,740 theatres, grossing USD$4,231,727 on its opening weekend. It went on to make $10,827,810 in North America. In addition to this gross, $2 million was made internationally, 6 million copies in DVD, Blu-ray and VHS sales since February 12, 2006.

Henry's copy
Henry has the 1999 VHS of this movie from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. It has previews of Titan A.E., Wing Commander, Simply Irresistible, 20 Dates, Never Been Kissed, Ravenous, and King of the Hill.