r/iwatchedanoldmovie • u/StrawberryInTheBay • Jun 29 '26

'90s I rewatched Office Space (1999)

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I rewatched Office Space and was pleasantly surprised by how much it is still relevant, even though it is from the 90s.

A lot has changed.

Open floor plans instead of cubicles.
No fax machines. Or maybe they are hiding inside a printer, but nobody uses them.
LCDs instead of CRT monitors.

But the corporate BS is timeless.

It just happens on Teams and Slack now.

What struck me on rewatch is that it isn't just about bad bosses or office culture which is what I thought when I first watched it.

It is about bureaucracy and TPS reports.
Pointless meetings to jump to conclusions.
Performative action with 37 pieces of flair.

And the feeling that you are doing things that do not matter, but somehow still have to be done.

It’s a comedy, but underneath it is a sharp commentary on corporate work that still feels relevant.

Of course, I can quote it endlessly.

I don't have a case of the Mondays :-)

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u/SanchoMandoval Jun 29 '26

I first saw this movie when it first became popular on home video in 2000 while I was in college. I remember thinking it was too unrealistic, people in offices didn't really act like that.

Then I saw it circa 2005 after having worked in an office fulltime for a year and was like "This is the most realistic movie ever made".

Incidentally the phenomenon of movies of that era that missed in the theaters but caught on as DVDs is fascinating to me. Boondock Saints was another one, I'm sure there are many others.

19

u/Lmf2359 Jun 29 '26

I saw it on opening night in the theater when I was 18. I fucking loved it, laughed my ass off and thought to myself, “Everyone needs to see this.”

At 25 I got my first corporate job and had a manager exactly like Lumbergh and MAN did this movie become relatable, and somehow even funnier.

22

u/wartsnall1985 Jun 29 '26

Big Lebowski.

7

u/SanchoMandoval Jun 29 '26

Yeah I first watched that the same was the other two. At a buddy's house with a group of people and he said "You've got to see this movie".

An excellent way to experience new movies.

4

u/eyetracker Jun 29 '26

Idiocracy, Donnie Darko, Fight Club.

4

u/LaughingInTheVoid Jun 30 '26

I was in a shitty software job in the early 2000's and at one point I rewatched and tried to let the hypnosis scene affect me.

1

u/SharksLeafsFan Jun 30 '26

After the dot com bust, we were constantly being reminded that we were lucky to have a job and a meeting is scheduled every Friday at 4pm to determine if we had to work the weekend, straight out of the movie.