History Film / OfficeSpace

A comedy by Creator/MikeJudge, ''Office Space'' introduced us to the world of Initech, a [[IncompetenceInc soul-crushingly inane software company]] presided over by Bill Lumbergh, a [[PointyHairedBoss soul-crushingly inane boss]] obsessed with TPS Reports -- a [[RuleOfThree soul-crushingly inane]] bit of paperwork -- who is slowly driving [[{{Salaryman}} employee]] Peter Gibbons out of his mind.

Then Peter gets [[HypnoFool de-stressed by a dose of hypnotherapy]] and stops caring about his job. Soon after that, some outside consultants interview him, trying to find people to lay off. Instead of puffing up his importance, Peter tells them exactly how the bloated bureaucracy of the company stops him from ever doing anything. The consultants, of course, take this as [[SeeminglyProfoundFool sheer brilliance]]. Peter is fast-tracked for a promotion, but also discovers that two of his only friends, Michael and Samir, are going to be getting the axe. When he shares the news, the three decide to do the only logical thing -- rob the company.

** Bill Lumburgh wears an [[Series/{{Babylon5}} Earthforce Academy]] graduation ring. Actor Gary Cole kept it from his previous role in ''Series/{{Crusade}}''.

** Brian never got his compunance.

* IfIWereARichMan: Peter and Lawrence have a discussion to this effect. Lawrence comes to the conclusion that he'd do "two chicks at the same time." Peter would "sit on [his] ass and do nothing" (besides two chicks at the same time, of course).

* CoitusUninterruptus: During Peter's nightmare, Lumbergh is having sex with Joanna while holding a cup of coffee, and then he turns to the camera and says, "Oh, hello Peter. What's happening? Uh, could you give me those TPS reports ASAP? Mmmkay?"

* CreatorCameo: An uncredited Mike Judge plays Joanna's passive-agressive boss.

'''Michael Bolton:''' There *was* nothing wrong with it … until I was about twelve years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys. \\

* FunnyForeigner: Samir

* MisaimedFandom: Ron Livingston said that a lot of people have told him they quit their jobs because of the movie. Probably not the best lesson to learn from the movie considering [[spoiler: the efforts of Peter, Michael, and Samir to get out of work for life nearly get them sent to prison, and at the end of the movie they're all relieved to have jobs again]].

** Also, getting his desk moved to Storage B. "Well … okay. That's the last straw."

''Heeeeey, {{Troper}}. What's happening? Yeah, I'm gonna need you to go ahead and describe Office Space here. If you could get that done by Monday, that'd be greeeeeaaaat. Mmkay?''

A comedy by MikeJudge, ''Office Space'' introduced us to the world of Initech, a [[IncompetenceInc soul-crushingly inane software company]] presided over by Bill Lumbergh, a [[PointyHairedBoss soul-crushingly inane boss]] obsessed with TPS Reports -- a [[RuleOfThree soul-crushingly inane]] bit of paperwork -- who is slowly driving [[{{Salaryman}} employee]] Peter Gibbons out of his mind.

* KarmaHoudini: All of the protagonists in that they get away with their attempted crime (although they also lose the money), but most notably Milton. He gets sick of his job and [[spoiler:burns the place down, in the process finding thousands of dollars lying on the floor and escaping to a tropical resort]]. Subverted somewhat in that he seems to be equally miserable when he gets there.

* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler: If you take his … his s-s-stapler he'll, he'll, he could … he'll set the building on fire.]]

* BuffySpeak: Joanna rants that Peter has become a "penny-stealing...wannabe criminal...man!"

'''Michael Bolton:''' There *was* nothing wrong with it... until I was about twelve years old and that no-talent ass clown became famous and started winning Grammys. \\
'''Samir''': Hmm... well, why don't you just go by Mike instead of Michael? \\
'''Michael Bolton:''' No way! Why should I change? He's the one who sucks!

* IKnewIt: In-universe: one of Peter's co-workers Tom Smykowski fears he's gonna get laid off for sure. [[spoiler:And he was right. He's going to kill himself, then seeing his wife makes him decide otherwise...then he's hit by a drunk driver, but the settlement money means he's set for life.]]

* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler: If you take his... his s-s-stapler he'll, he'll, he could... he'll set the building on fire.]]

* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: "Michael... Bolton? Any relation to the pop singer?"

'''Lawrence:''' No... No! Shit, no, man. I believe you'd get your ass kicked saying something like that, man.

** There's also a second, unseen character [[spoiler:with the last name "Lumbergh."]]

** Also, getting his desk moved to Storage B. "Well... okay. That's the last straw."

* StuffBlowingUp: [[spoiler:Told you he loves that stapler...]]
* StupidBoss: Where to begin...?
* TechMarchesOn: The floppy disk that Peter and co. use to load the virus.

* VerbalTic: "Yeah, Hi, it's Bill Lumbergh...".

* VisualInnuendo: When Lawrence tells Peter about his desire to do "two chicks at the same time," look at how he is holding his bottle of beer...

* WhiteCollarCrime: The second half of the movie revolves around an attempt at it, though the protagonists aren't very good at it (they look up money laundering in the dictionary for starters), which is {{lampshade}}d by Michael:

* IKnewIt: In-universe: one of Peter's co-workers Tom Smykowski fears he's gonna get laid off for sure. [[spoiler:And he was right. But he's fine with it since he got rich with an invention of his.]]

* WoobieDestroyerofWorlds: Well, office buildings at least.

* TheDilbertPrinciple: The two Bob's think Peter's a great candidate for the management track, while they want to fire two of the most competent workers.

* IfIWereARichMan: Peter and Lawrence have a discussion to this effect. Lawrence comes to the conclusion that he'd do "two chicks at the same time." Peter would "sit on [his] ass and do nothing" (that or do two chicks at the same time).

* Beware the Quiet Ones: Or they'll [[spoiler:set the building on fire]]

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: One unpronouncible name: Samir Nagheenanajar.

* UnusualEuphemism: "I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married..."
** he says "and they were merry"

**

A comedy by MikeJudge, ''Office Space'' introduced us to the world of Initech, a [[IncompetenceInc soul-crushingly inane software company]] presided over by Bill Lumbergh, a soul-crushingly inane boss obsessed with TPS Reports -- a [[RuleOfThree soul-crushingly inane]] bit of paperwork -- who is slowly driving [[{{Salaryman}} employee]] Peter Gibbons out of his mind.

** Which leads to a BrickJoke later on

* CompletelyMissingThePoint: It's the [[http://www.thinkgeek.com/books/humor/8e6c/ Office Space "Case of the Mondays" Fun Kit! Comes with lots and lots of flair, TPS reports, and a Jump to Conclusions mat!]] Though seeing how [[FridgeBrilliance it's supposed to seem like the kind of stupid-ass thing Initech would do]], [[InvokedTrope that's pretty much the point.]]

* AdOfWin: Blizzard took the scene where Lumbergh tries to talk to Peter in his cubicle while Peter just ignores him to play VideoGame/{{Tetris}}, and replaced the game on his screen with ''WorldOfWarcraft''. It worked perfectly.

* AdaptationExpansion: Of the "Milton" animated shorts Mike Judge did for ''SaturdayNightLive'' in the early 1990s, from which the characters of Milton and Lumbergh (who was unnamed at the time) were taken. The bit where Milton's stapler is taken away was lifted wholesale from the first short, and dialogue from the last two shorts (Milton being moved to the basement and being asked to take care of the cockroaches, respectively) was also used. For those who remember these shorts, it is ''ridiculously'' satisfying to see Milton [[spoiler:finally burn down the building]] (and, in a deleted scene, [[spoiler:''kill Lumbergh'']]) after having promised to do both for almost a decade.

''Heeeeey, {{Troper}}. What's happening? Yeah, I'm gonna need you to go ahead and describe OfficeSpace here. If you could get that done by Monday, that'd be greeeeeaaaat. Mmkay?''