Best Office Movies

In an ideal world, we’d all work at fulfilling jobs we love, surrounded by people we love and employed by bosses we love. In the real world, most of us work at menial jobs, with people we don’t like all that much and bosses we downright despise. This unfortunate truth has been lampooned by comic strips like “Dilbert” and countless office movies. The office motion picture is one that will endure in American culture because we all daydream about one day blowing our lids and deciding “we’re not going to take it,” as Twisted Sister would say.

Office Space is considered the king of office movies. This 1999 hit film satirizes life at a software company in the nineties. The story’s protagonist, Peter Gibbons, decides to stop going to work just as the company is downsizing, which makes him even more intriguing and desirable to his bosses. When his friends get fired, they decide to create a computer virus that will siphon off money into their bank accounts. Other characters include Milton — the quiet eccentric who is perpetually disgruntled and whose desk is always getting moved; Lumbergh — the ever-irritating boss whose expressions and mannerisms drive workers up the wall; and a string of characters who talk about having “a case of the Mondays” and lust after their coworkers. Despite its sluggish box office sales, Office Space went on to become one of the most-purchased movies online, with more than 2.6 million DVDs sold for home theater viewing.

Clerks, which is a 1994 comedy, is another one of the classic office movies. While it’s technically set in a convenience/video store, everyone who works in some sort of routine occupation can relate to the annoying customers and lack of fulfillment. The story follows the plight of Dante Hicks, who is called into work on his day off to deal with a swamp of irritating customers. With characters like comedic slacker Randall and stoners Jay and Silent Bob, the Clerks motion picture went on to become an animated TV series, comic book and has several sequels. Director Kevin Smith originally shot this low-budget film for just over $27,000 and ended up making $3 million once the film caught on with fans.

Falling Down (1993) stars Michael Douglas as a defense worker who has always tried to do the right thing but feels he has a continuous string of bad luck. As he tries to get to his daughter’s birthday party, a string of events that includes drive-by shootings, traffic jams and stubborn convenience store workers leads the main character into a homicidal rage. While this film doesn’t follow the protocol of “office movies” in an office setting, it is one of the top movies that appeals to our sense of fed-up-ness with the world. Even though many horrific acts have been committed, we can’t help but sympathize with the protagonist.

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