Office Space (1999)

Office Space is a predictably droll take on office drudgery -- sort of a live-action Dilbert with a troupe that's a decade younger -- that never fails to amuse and only gets better with repeat viewing. It is leisurely in pace since it's told from a slacker's perspective: Ron Livingston gets so put off by the inanities and inefficiencies of the corporate life that he decides (as he tells Jennifer Aniston): "I don't think I like my job. I'm not going to go anymore." And just like that, because he's fearless with the downsizing consultants who are looking for people to lay off, they conclude he has an "in" with management and is untouchable. Meanwhile, he and two friends have come up with a scheme to siphon excess fractions of pennies from the computerized accounts -- which becomes chillingly far more successful than expected, sending frissons of first panic and then resolve down their spines. What they do and how things turn out are only distractions from the closing scene, which leaves us with nebbishy nerd Stephen Root mumbling to himself (as always). 4 stars. (5-21-2010, posted 3-4-2016)