🕷️ Crawler Inspector

URL Lookup

Direct Parameter Lookup

Raw Queries and Responses

1. Shard Calculation

Query:

Response:

Calculated Shard: 97 (from laksa108)

2. Crawled Status Check

Query:

curl -X POST \
  'http://laksa097.int.ahrefs:8124/' \
  -H 'Content-Type: text/plain' \
  -H 'X-ClickHouse-Database: crawler3' \
  -H 'Authorization: Basic YXBpOg==' \
  -d 'SELECT getAhrefsURLFromUnparsed(src_unparsed) AS found_url, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(download_stamp), 0) AS crawl_time, ifNull(toUnixTimestamp(props_url_first_seen), 0) AS first_indexed_time, download_http_code AS http_code, src_unparsed AS src_unparsed, src_root_hash AS src_root_hash, history_drop_reason AS history_drop_reason, meta_title AS meta_title, meta_descriptions AS meta_descriptions, attrs_boilerpipe_text AS attrs_boilerpipe_text, attrs_markdown AS attrs_markdown, attrs_readable_markdown AS attrs_readable_markdown, meta_canonical AS meta_canonical FROM crawler3.page_info_local FINAL PREWHERE (src_root_hash, src_unparsed) IN ((getAhrefsRootHashFromUnparsed(getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/office-space-1999\')), getAhrefsUnparsedNoserviceFromURL(\'https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/office-space-1999\'))) FORMAT JSONEachRow'

Response:

{"found_url":"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/office-space-1999","crawl_time":1775894622,"first_indexed_time":1509500219,"http_code":200,"src_unparsed":"com,rogerebert!www,\/reviews\/office-space-1999 s443","src_root_hash":"7554834309041482497","history_drop_reason":null,"meta_title":"Office Space movie review & film summary review:","meta_descriptions":["Mike Judge's \"Office Space\" is a comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as \"Dilbert\" and the movie"],"attrs_boilerpipe_text":"Mike Judge\n‘s “Office Space” is a comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as “Dilbert” and the movie “\nClockwatchers\n” and, for that matter, the works of Kafka and the Book of Job. It is about work that crushes the spirit. Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible.\nAs the movie opens, a cubicle slave named Peter (\nRon Livingston\n) is being reminded by his smarmy supervisor (\nGary Cole\n) that all reports now carry a cover sheet. “Yes, I know,” he says. “I forgot. It was a silly mistake. It won’t happen again.” Before long another manager reminds him about the cover sheets. “Yes, I know,” he says. Then another manager. And another. Logic suggests that when more than one supervisor conveys the same trivial information, their jobs overlap, and all supervisors after the first one should be shredded.\nPeter hates his job. So do all of his co-workers, although one of them, Milton (\nStephen Root\n), has found refuge through an obsessive defense of his cubicle, his radio and his stapler. Milton’s cubicle is relocated so many times that eventually it appears to have no entrance or exit; he’s walled-in on every side. You may recognize him as the hero of cartoons that played on “Saturday Night Live,” where strangers were always arriving to use his cubicle as storage space for cardboard boxes.\nMike Judge, who gained fame through MTV’s “Beavis and Butt-Head,” and made the droll animated film “\nBeavis and Butt-Head Do America\n” (1996), has taken his “SNL” Milton cartoons as an inspiration for this live-action comedy, which uses Orwellian satirical techniques to fight the cubicle police: No individual detail of office routine is too absurd to be believed, but together they add up to stark, staring insanity.\nPeter has two friends at work: Michael Bolton (\nDavid Herman\n) and Samir (\nAjay Naidu\n). No, not that Michael Bolton, Michael patiently explains. They flee the office for coffee breaks (demonstrating that Starbucks doesn’t really sell coffee–it sells escape from the office).\nPeter is in love with the waitress at the chain restaurant across the parking lot. Her name is Joanna (\nJennifer Aniston\n) and she has problems with management, too. She’s required to wear a minimum of 15 funny buttons on the suspenders of her uniform; the buttons are called “flair” in company lingo, and her manager suggests that wearing only the minimum flair suggests the wrong spirit (another waiter has “45 flairs” and looks like an exhibit at a trivia convention).\nThe movie’s dialogue is smart. It doesn’t just chug along making plot points. Consider, for example, Michael Bolton’s plan for revenge against the company. He has a software program that would round off payments to the next-lowest penny and deposit the proceeds in their checking account. Hey, you’re thinking–that’s not original! A dumb movie would pretend it was.\nNot “Office Space,” where Peter says he thinks he’s heard of that before, and Michael says, “Yeah, they did it in `Superman III.’ Also, a bunch of hackers tried it in the ’70s. One got arrested.”\nThe movie’s turning point comes when Peter seeks help from an “occupational hypnotherapist.” He’s put in a trance with long-lasting results; he cuts work, goes fishing, guts fish at his desk and tells efficiency experts he actually works only 15 minutes a week. The experts like his attitude and suggest he be promoted. Meanwhile, the Milton problem is ticking like a time bomb, especially after Milton’s cubicle is relocated to a basement storage area.\n“Office Space” is like the evil twin of “Clockwatchers.” Both movies are about the ways corporations standardize office routines, so that workers are interchangeable and can be paid as little as possible.\n“Clockwatchers” was about the lowest rung on the employment ladder–daily temps–but “Office Space” suggests that regular employment is even worse, because it’s a life sentence. Asked to describe his state of mind to the therapist, Peter says, “Since I started working, every single day has been worse than the day before, so that every day you see me is the worst day of my life.”\nJudge, an animator until now, treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques. There is a moment in the movie when the heroes take a baseball bat to a malfunctioning copier. Reader, who has not felt the same?","attrs_markdown":"[![Roger Ebert Logo](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/themes\/roger-ebert\/source\/images\/roger-ebert-logo.svg)](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/)   [![Search Icon](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/themes\/roger-ebert\/source\/images\/search-thin.svg)](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/search)   [Signup](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/prime)\n\n- [Movie Reviews](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews)\n- [Great Movies](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/great-movies)\n- [TV\/Streaming](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/streaming)\n- [Interviews](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/interviews)\n- [Collections](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/collections)\n- [Festivals & Awards](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/festivals-and-awards)\n- [Contributors](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/contributors)\n\n[Reviews](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews)\n\n# Office Space\n![star rating](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/themes\/roger-ebert\/source\/images\/stars-fill.svg) ![star rating](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/themes\/roger-ebert\/source\/images\/stars.svg)\n\n[Comedy](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/genre\/comedy)\n\n90 minutes  ‧ R  ‧ 1999\n\n[Roger Ebert](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/contributors\/roger-ebert)\n\nFebruary 19, 1999\n\n4 min read\n\n![](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Office-Space.jpg)\n\n[Mike Judge](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/mike-judge)‘s “Office Space” is a comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as “Dilbert” and the movie “[Clockwatchers](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/clockwatchers-1998)” and, for that matter, the works of Kafka and the Book of Job. It is about work that crushes the spirit. Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible.\n\nAs the movie opens, a cubicle slave named Peter ([Ron Livingston](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/ron-livingston)) is being reminded by his smarmy supervisor ([Gary Cole](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/gary-cole)) that all reports now carry a cover sheet. “Yes, I know,” he says. “I forgot. It was a silly mistake. It won’t happen again.” Before long another manager reminds him about the cover sheets. “Yes, I know,” he says. Then another manager. And another. Logic suggests that when more than one supervisor conveys the same trivial information, their jobs overlap, and all supervisors after the first one should be shredded.\n\nPeter hates his job. So do all of his co-workers, although one of them, Milton ([Stephen Root](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/stephen-root)), has found refuge through an obsessive defense of his cubicle, his radio and his stapler. Milton’s cubicle is relocated so many times that eventually it appears to have no entrance or exit; he’s walled-in on every side. You may recognize him as the hero of cartoons that played on “Saturday Night Live,” where strangers were always arriving to use his cubicle as storage space for cardboard boxes.\n\nMike Judge, who gained fame through MTV’s “Beavis and Butt-Head,” and made the droll animated film “[Beavis and Butt-Head Do America](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/beavis-and-butt-head-do-america-1996)” (1996), has taken his “SNL” Milton cartoons as an inspiration for this live-action comedy, which uses Orwellian satirical techniques to fight the cubicle police: No individual detail of office routine is too absurd to be believed, but together they add up to stark, staring insanity.\n\nPeter has two friends at work: Michael Bolton ([David Herman](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/david-herman)) and Samir ([Ajay Naidu](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/ajay-naidu)). No, not that Michael Bolton, Michael patiently explains. They flee the office for coffee breaks (demonstrating that Starbucks doesn’t really sell coffee–it sells escape from the office).\n\nPeter is in love with the waitress at the chain restaurant across the parking lot. Her name is Joanna ([Jennifer Aniston](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/jennifer-aniston)) and she has problems with management, too. She’s required to wear a minimum of 15 funny buttons on the suspenders of her uniform; the buttons are called “flair” in company lingo, and her manager suggests that wearing only the minimum flair suggests the wrong spirit (another waiter has “45 flairs” and looks like an exhibit at a trivia convention).\n\nThe movie’s dialogue is smart. It doesn’t just chug along making plot points. Consider, for example, Michael Bolton’s plan for revenge against the company. He has a software program that would round off payments to the next-lowest penny and deposit the proceeds in their checking account. Hey, you’re thinking–that’s not original! A dumb movie would pretend it was.\n\nNot “Office Space,” where Peter says he thinks he’s heard of that before, and Michael says, “Yeah, they did it in \\`Superman III.’ Also, a bunch of hackers tried it in the ’70s. One got arrested.”\n\nThe movie’s turning point comes when Peter seeks help from an “occupational hypnotherapist.” He’s put in a trance with long-lasting results; he cuts work, goes fishing, guts fish at his desk and tells efficiency experts he actually works only 15 minutes a week. The experts like his attitude and suggest he be promoted. Meanwhile, the Milton problem is ticking like a time bomb, especially after Milton’s cubicle is relocated to a basement storage area.\n\n“Office Space” is like the evil twin of “Clockwatchers.” Both movies are about the ways corporations standardize office routines, so that workers are interchangeable and can be paid as little as possible.\n\n“Clockwatchers” was about the lowest rung on the employment ladder–daily temps–but “Office Space” suggests that regular employment is even worse, because it’s a life sentence. Asked to describe his state of mind to the therapist, Peter says, “Since I started working, every single day has been worse than the day before, so that every day you see me is the worst day of my life.”\n\nJudge, an animator until now, treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques. There is a moment in the movie when the heroes take a baseball bat to a malfunctioning copier. Reader, who has not felt the same?\n\nNow streaming on:\n\n[Powered by ![JustWatch](https:\/\/widget.justwatch.com\/assets\/JW_logo_black_10px.svg)](https:\/\/www.justwatch.com\/)\n\n![](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Roger-Ebert-1.jpg)\n\n##### [Roger Ebert](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/contributors\/roger-ebert)\nRoger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.\n\n#### Office Space\n[Comedy](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/genre\/comedy)\n\n![star rating](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/themes\/roger-ebert\/source\/images\/stars-fill.svg) ![star rating](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/themes\/roger-ebert\/source\/images\/stars.svg)\n\n90 minutes  ‧ R  ‧ 1999\n\n![](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Office-Space.jpg)\n\n#### Cast\n- [Ajay Naidu](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/ajay-naidu) as Samir\n- [Diedrich Bader](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/diedrich-bader) as Lawrence\n- [Richard Riehle](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/richard-riehle) as Tom Smykowski\n- [Gary Cole](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/gary-cole) as Bill Lumbergh\n- [David Herman](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/david-herman) as Michael Bolton\n- [Ron Livingston](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/ron-livingston) as Peter\n- [Alexandra Wentworth](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/alexandra-wentworth) as Anne\n- [Jennifer Aniston](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/jennifer-aniston) as Joanna\n- [Stephen Root](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/stephen-root) as Milton\n\n- #### Written and Directed by\n  - [Based On His](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/based-on-his)\n  - [Mike Judge](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/mike-judge)\n\n#### Leave a comment\nPlease enable JavaScript to view the  [comments powered by Disqus.](https:\/\/disqus.com\/?ref_noscript)\n\n***\n#### Now playing\n[![Bunnylovr](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/MV5BOGE2MjAyYmMtZmU3NS00MDNlLWI5NjktYTM0YTZjZTIyMTEzXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-256x370.jpg) Bunnylovr Clint Worthington ![star 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comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as “Dilbert” and the movie “[Clockwatchers](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/clockwatchers-1998)” and, for that matter, the works of Kafka and the Book of Job. It is about work that crushes the spirit. Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible.\n\nAs the movie opens, a cubicle slave named Peter ([Ron Livingston](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/ron-livingston)) is being reminded by his smarmy supervisor ([Gary Cole](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/gary-cole)) that all reports now carry a cover sheet. “Yes, I know,” he says. “I forgot. It was a silly mistake. It won’t happen again.” Before long another manager reminds him about the cover sheets. “Yes, I know,” he says. Then another manager. And another. Logic suggests that when more than one supervisor conveys the same trivial information, their jobs overlap, and all supervisors after the first one should be shredded.\n\nPeter hates his job. So do all of his co-workers, although one of them, Milton ([Stephen Root](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/stephen-root)), has found refuge through an obsessive defense of his cubicle, his radio and his stapler. Milton’s cubicle is relocated so many times that eventually it appears to have no entrance or exit; he’s walled-in on every side. You may recognize him as the hero of cartoons that played on “Saturday Night Live,” where strangers were always arriving to use his cubicle as storage space for cardboard boxes.\n\nMike Judge, who gained fame through MTV’s “Beavis and Butt-Head,” and made the droll animated film “[Beavis and Butt-Head Do America](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/beavis-and-butt-head-do-america-1996)” (1996), has taken his “SNL” Milton cartoons as an inspiration for this live-action comedy, which uses Orwellian satirical techniques to fight the cubicle police: No individual detail of office routine is too absurd to be believed, but together they add up to stark, staring insanity.\n\nPeter has two friends at work: Michael Bolton ([David Herman](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/david-herman)) and Samir ([Ajay Naidu](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/ajay-naidu)). No, not that Michael Bolton, Michael patiently explains. They flee the office for coffee breaks (demonstrating that Starbucks doesn’t really sell coffee–it sells escape from the office).\n\nPeter is in love with the waitress at the chain restaurant across the parking lot. Her name is Joanna ([Jennifer Aniston](https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/cast-and-crew\/jennifer-aniston)) and she has problems with management, too. She’s required to wear a minimum of 15 funny buttons on the suspenders of her uniform; the buttons are called “flair” in company lingo, and her manager suggests that wearing only the minimum flair suggests the wrong spirit (another waiter has “45 flairs” and looks like an exhibit at a trivia convention).\n\nThe movie’s dialogue is smart. It doesn’t just chug along making plot points. Consider, for example, Michael Bolton’s plan for revenge against the company. He has a software program that would round off payments to the next-lowest penny and deposit the proceeds in their checking account. Hey, you’re thinking–that’s not original! A dumb movie would pretend it was.\n\nNot “Office Space,” where Peter says he thinks he’s heard of that before, and Michael says, “Yeah, they did it in \\`Superman III.’ Also, a bunch of hackers tried it in the ’70s. One got arrested.”\n\nThe movie’s turning point comes when Peter seeks help from an “occupational hypnotherapist.” He’s put in a trance with long-lasting results; he cuts work, goes fishing, guts fish at his desk and tells efficiency experts he actually works only 15 minutes a week. The experts like his attitude and suggest he be promoted. Meanwhile, the Milton problem is ticking like a time bomb, especially after Milton’s cubicle is relocated to a basement storage area.\n\n“Office Space” is like the evil twin of “Clockwatchers.” Both movies are about the ways corporations standardize office routines, so that workers are interchangeable and can be paid as little as possible.\n\n“Clockwatchers” was about the lowest rung on the employment ladder–daily temps–but “Office Space” suggests that regular employment is even worse, because it’s a life sentence. Asked to describe his state of mind to the therapist, Peter says, “Since I started working, every single day has been worse than the day before, so that every day you see me is the worst day of my life.”\n\nJudge, an animator until now, treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques. There is a moment in the movie when the heroes take a baseball bat to a malfunctioning copier. Reader, who has not felt the same?","meta_canonical":null}

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Boilerpipe Text	Mike Judge ‘s “Office Space” is a comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as “Dilbert” and the movie “ Clockwatchers ” and, for that matter, the works of Kafka and the Book of Job. It is about work that crushes the spirit. Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible. As the movie opens, a cubicle slave named Peter ( Ron Livingston ) is being reminded by his smarmy supervisor ( Gary Cole ) that all reports now carry a cover sheet. “Yes, I know,” he says. “I forgot. It was a silly mistake. It won’t happen again.” Before long another manager reminds him about the cover sheets. “Yes, I know,” he says. Then another manager. And another. Logic suggests that when more than one supervisor conveys the same trivial information, their jobs overlap, and all supervisors after the first one should be shredded. Peter hates his job. So do all of his co-workers, although one of them, Milton ( Stephen Root ), has found refuge through an obsessive defense of his cubicle, his radio and his stapler. Milton’s cubicle is relocated so many times that eventually it appears to have no entrance or exit; he’s walled-in on every side. You may recognize him as the hero of cartoons that played on “Saturday Night Live,” where strangers were always arriving to use his cubicle as storage space for cardboard boxes. Mike Judge, who gained fame through MTV’s “Beavis and Butt-Head,” and made the droll animated film “ Beavis and Butt-Head Do America ” (1996), has taken his “SNL” Milton cartoons as an inspiration for this live-action comedy, which uses Orwellian satirical techniques to fight the cubicle police: No individual detail of office routine is too absurd to be believed, but together they add up to stark, staring insanity. Peter has two friends at work: Michael Bolton ( David Herman ) and Samir ( Ajay Naidu ). No, not that Michael Bolton, Michael patiently explains. They flee the office for coffee breaks (demonstrating that Starbucks doesn’t really sell coffee–it sells escape from the office). Peter is in love with the waitress at the chain restaurant across the parking lot. Her name is Joanna ( Jennifer Aniston ) and she has problems with management, too. She’s required to wear a minimum of 15 funny buttons on the suspenders of her uniform; the buttons are called “flair” in company lingo, and her manager suggests that wearing only the minimum flair suggests the wrong spirit (another waiter has “45 flairs” and looks like an exhibit at a trivia convention). The movie’s dialogue is smart. It doesn’t just chug along making plot points. Consider, for example, Michael Bolton’s plan for revenge against the company. He has a software program that would round off payments to the next-lowest penny and deposit the proceeds in their checking account. Hey, you’re thinking–that’s not original! A dumb movie would pretend it was. Not “Office Space,” where Peter says he thinks he’s heard of that before, and Michael says, “Yeah, they did it in `Superman III.’ Also, a bunch of hackers tried it in the ’70s. One got arrested.” The movie’s turning point comes when Peter seeks help from an “occupational hypnotherapist.” He’s put in a trance with long-lasting results; he cuts work, goes fishing, guts fish at his desk and tells efficiency experts he actually works only 15 minutes a week. The experts like his attitude and suggest he be promoted. Meanwhile, the Milton problem is ticking like a time bomb, especially after Milton’s cubicle is relocated to a basement storage area. “Office Space” is like the evil twin of “Clockwatchers.” Both movies are about the ways corporations standardize office routines, so that workers are interchangeable and can be paid as little as possible. “Clockwatchers” was about the lowest rung on the employment ladder–daily temps–but “Office Space” suggests that regular employment is even worse, because it’s a life sentence. Asked to describe his state of mind to the therapist, Peter says, “Since I started working, every single day has been worse than the day before, so that every day you see me is the worst day of my life.” Judge, an animator until now, treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques. There is a moment in the movie when the heroes take a baseball bat to a malfunctioning copier. Reader, who has not felt the same?
Markdown	[![Roger Ebert Logo](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/themes/roger-ebert/source/images/roger-ebert-logo.svg)](https://www.rogerebert.com/) [![Search Icon](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/themes/roger-ebert/source/images/search-thin.svg)](https://www.rogerebert.com/search) [Signup](https://www.rogerebert.com/prime) - [Movie Reviews](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews) - [Great Movies](https://www.rogerebert.com/great-movies) - [TV/Streaming](https://www.rogerebert.com/streaming) - [Interviews](https://www.rogerebert.com/interviews) - [Collections](https://www.rogerebert.com/collections) - [Festivals & Awards](https://www.rogerebert.com/festivals-and-awards) - [Contributors](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors) [Reviews](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews) # Office Space ![star rating](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/themes/roger-ebert/source/images/stars-fill.svg) ![star rating](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/themes/roger-ebert/source/images/stars.svg) [Comedy](https://www.rogerebert.com/genre/comedy) 90 minutes ‧ R ‧ 1999 [Roger Ebert](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert) February 19, 1999 4 min read ![](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Office-Space.jpg) [Mike Judge](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/mike-judge)‘s “Office Space” is a comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as “Dilbert” and the movie “[Clockwatchers](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/clockwatchers-1998)” and, for that matter, the works of Kafka and the Book of Job. It is about work that crushes the spirit. Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible. As the movie opens, a cubicle slave named Peter ([Ron Livingston](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/ron-livingston)) is being reminded by his smarmy supervisor ([Gary Cole](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/gary-cole)) that all reports now carry a cover sheet. “Yes, I know,” he says. “I forgot. It was a silly mistake. It won’t happen again.” Before long another manager reminds him about the cover sheets. “Yes, I know,” he says. Then another manager. And another. Logic suggests that when more than one supervisor conveys the same trivial information, their jobs overlap, and all supervisors after the first one should be shredded. Peter hates his job. So do all of his co-workers, although one of them, Milton ([Stephen Root](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/stephen-root)), has found refuge through an obsessive defense of his cubicle, his radio and his stapler. Milton’s cubicle is relocated so many times that eventually it appears to have no entrance or exit; he’s walled-in on every side. You may recognize him as the hero of cartoons that played on “Saturday Night Live,” where strangers were always arriving to use his cubicle as storage space for cardboard boxes. Mike Judge, who gained fame through MTV’s “Beavis and Butt-Head,” and made the droll animated film “[Beavis and Butt-Head Do America](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/beavis-and-butt-head-do-america-1996)” (1996), has taken his “SNL” Milton cartoons as an inspiration for this live-action comedy, which uses Orwellian satirical techniques to fight the cubicle police: No individual detail of office routine is too absurd to be believed, but together they add up to stark, staring insanity. Peter has two friends at work: Michael Bolton ([David Herman](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/david-herman)) and Samir ([Ajay Naidu](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/ajay-naidu)). No, not that Michael Bolton, Michael patiently explains. They flee the office for coffee breaks (demonstrating that Starbucks doesn’t really sell coffee–it sells escape from the office). Peter is in love with the waitress at the chain restaurant across the parking lot. Her name is Joanna ([Jennifer Aniston](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/jennifer-aniston)) and she has problems with management, too. She’s required to wear a minimum of 15 funny buttons on the suspenders of her uniform; the buttons are called “flair” in company lingo, and her manager suggests that wearing only the minimum flair suggests the wrong spirit (another waiter has “45 flairs” and looks like an exhibit at a trivia convention). The movie’s dialogue is smart. It doesn’t just chug along making plot points. Consider, for example, Michael Bolton’s plan for revenge against the company. He has a software program that would round off payments to the next-lowest penny and deposit the proceeds in their checking account. Hey, you’re thinking–that’s not original! A dumb movie would pretend it was. Not “Office Space,” where Peter says he thinks he’s heard of that before, and Michael says, “Yeah, they did it in \`Superman III.’ Also, a bunch of hackers tried it in the ’70s. One got arrested.” The movie’s turning point comes when Peter seeks help from an “occupational hypnotherapist.” He’s put in a trance with long-lasting results; he cuts work, goes fishing, guts fish at his desk and tells efficiency experts he actually works only 15 minutes a week. The experts like his attitude and suggest he be promoted. Meanwhile, the Milton problem is ticking like a time bomb, especially after Milton’s cubicle is relocated to a basement storage area. “Office Space” is like the evil twin of “Clockwatchers.” Both movies are about the ways corporations standardize office routines, so that workers are interchangeable and can be paid as little as possible. “Clockwatchers” was about the lowest rung on the employment ladder–daily temps–but “Office Space” suggests that regular employment is even worse, because it’s a life sentence. Asked to describe his state of mind to the therapist, Peter says, “Since I started working, every single day has been worse than the day before, so that every day you see me is the worst day of my life.” Judge, an animator until now, treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques. There is a moment in the movie when the heroes take a baseball bat to a malfunctioning copier. Reader, who has not felt the same? Now streaming on: [Powered by ![JustWatch](https://widget.justwatch.com/assets/JW_logo_black_10px.svg)](https://www.justwatch.com/) ![](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Roger-Ebert-1.jpg) ##### [Roger Ebert](https://www.rogerebert.com/contributors/roger-ebert) Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism. #### Office Space [Comedy](https://www.rogerebert.com/genre/comedy) ![star rating](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/themes/roger-ebert/source/images/stars-fill.svg) ![star rating](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/themes/roger-ebert/source/images/stars.svg) 90 minutes ‧ R ‧ 1999 ![](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Office-Space.jpg) #### Cast - [Ajay Naidu](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/ajay-naidu) as Samir - [Diedrich Bader](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/diedrich-bader) as Lawrence - [Richard Riehle](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/richard-riehle) as Tom Smykowski - [Gary Cole](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/gary-cole) as Bill Lumbergh - [David Herman](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/david-herman) as Michael Bolton - [Ron Livingston](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/ron-livingston) as Peter - [Alexandra Wentworth](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/alexandra-wentworth) as Anne - [Jennifer Aniston](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/jennifer-aniston) as Joanna - [Stephen Root](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/stephen-root) as Milton - #### Written and Directed by - [Based On His](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/based-on-his) - [Mike Judge](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/mike-judge) #### Leave a comment Please enable JavaScript to view the [comments powered by Disqus.](https://disqus.com/?ref_noscript) * #### Now playing [![Bunnylovr](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/MV5BOGE2MjAyYmMtZmU3NS00MDNlLWI5NjktYTM0YTZjZTIyMTEzXkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_FMjpg_UX1000_-256x370.jpg) Bunnylovr Clint Worthington ![star rating](https://www.rogerebert.com/wp-content/themes/roger-ebert/source/images/stars-fill.svg) ![star 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Readable Markdown	[Mike Judge](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/mike-judge)‘s “Office Space” is a comic cry of rage against the nightmare of modern office life. It has many of the same complaints as “Dilbert” and the movie “[Clockwatchers](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/clockwatchers-1998)” and, for that matter, the works of Kafka and the Book of Job. It is about work that crushes the spirit. Office cubicles are cells, supervisors are the wardens, and modern management theory is skewed to employ as many managers and as few workers as possible. As the movie opens, a cubicle slave named Peter ([Ron Livingston](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/ron-livingston)) is being reminded by his smarmy supervisor ([Gary Cole](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/gary-cole)) that all reports now carry a cover sheet. “Yes, I know,” he says. “I forgot. It was a silly mistake. It won’t happen again.” Before long another manager reminds him about the cover sheets. “Yes, I know,” he says. Then another manager. And another. Logic suggests that when more than one supervisor conveys the same trivial information, their jobs overlap, and all supervisors after the first one should be shredded. Peter hates his job. So do all of his co-workers, although one of them, Milton ([Stephen Root](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/stephen-root)), has found refuge through an obsessive defense of his cubicle, his radio and his stapler. Milton’s cubicle is relocated so many times that eventually it appears to have no entrance or exit; he’s walled-in on every side. You may recognize him as the hero of cartoons that played on “Saturday Night Live,” where strangers were always arriving to use his cubicle as storage space for cardboard boxes. Mike Judge, who gained fame through MTV’s “Beavis and Butt-Head,” and made the droll animated film “[Beavis and Butt-Head Do America](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/beavis-and-butt-head-do-america-1996)” (1996), has taken his “SNL” Milton cartoons as an inspiration for this live-action comedy, which uses Orwellian satirical techniques to fight the cubicle police: No individual detail of office routine is too absurd to be believed, but together they add up to stark, staring insanity. Peter has two friends at work: Michael Bolton ([David Herman](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/david-herman)) and Samir ([Ajay Naidu](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/ajay-naidu)). No, not that Michael Bolton, Michael patiently explains. They flee the office for coffee breaks (demonstrating that Starbucks doesn’t really sell coffee–it sells escape from the office). Peter is in love with the waitress at the chain restaurant across the parking lot. Her name is Joanna ([Jennifer Aniston](https://www.rogerebert.com/cast-and-crew/jennifer-aniston)) and she has problems with management, too. She’s required to wear a minimum of 15 funny buttons on the suspenders of her uniform; the buttons are called “flair” in company lingo, and her manager suggests that wearing only the minimum flair suggests the wrong spirit (another waiter has “45 flairs” and looks like an exhibit at a trivia convention). The movie’s dialogue is smart. It doesn’t just chug along making plot points. Consider, for example, Michael Bolton’s plan for revenge against the company. He has a software program that would round off payments to the next-lowest penny and deposit the proceeds in their checking account. Hey, you’re thinking–that’s not original! A dumb movie would pretend it was. Not “Office Space,” where Peter says he thinks he’s heard of that before, and Michael says, “Yeah, they did it in \`Superman III.’ Also, a bunch of hackers tried it in the ’70s. One got arrested.” The movie’s turning point comes when Peter seeks help from an “occupational hypnotherapist.” He’s put in a trance with long-lasting results; he cuts work, goes fishing, guts fish at his desk and tells efficiency experts he actually works only 15 minutes a week. The experts like his attitude and suggest he be promoted. Meanwhile, the Milton problem is ticking like a time bomb, especially after Milton’s cubicle is relocated to a basement storage area. “Office Space” is like the evil twin of “Clockwatchers.” Both movies are about the ways corporations standardize office routines, so that workers are interchangeable and can be paid as little as possible. “Clockwatchers” was about the lowest rung on the employment ladder–daily temps–but “Office Space” suggests that regular employment is even worse, because it’s a life sentence. Asked to describe his state of mind to the therapist, Peter says, “Since I started working, every single day has been worse than the day before, so that every day you see me is the worst day of my life.” Judge, an animator until now, treats his characters a little like cartoon creatures. That works. Nuances of behavior are not necessary, because in the cubicle world every personality trait is magnified, and the captives stagger forth like grotesques. There is a moment in the movie when the heroes take a baseball bat to a malfunctioning copier. Reader, who has not felt the same?
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