Office Space (1999)

Most people dream of quitting the job they hate, but few actually stop showing up and see what happens. Mike Judge's "Office Space," which he wrote and directed, is a pitch-perfect satire of corporate America circa 1999 that will hit close to home for anyone who's ever spent eight hours in a cubicle, worried about layoffs, wanted to smash a malfunctioning printer or endured a smug, condescending boss. Ron Livingston stars as Peter Gibbons, a software engineer at a faceless tech company called Initech who spends his days updating computer code and filling out pointless reports. He goes home to a sparsely furnished apartment, then fights his way through a maddening commute every morning. His co-workers are an irritating bunch, and his boss, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole), is a smarmy, passive-aggressive tyrant. In desperation, Peter tries a session with a hypnotherapist, who puts him into a state of deep relaxation, then drops dead before he can snap him out of it. Blissfully unconcerned, Peter stops caring about his job altogether, and ironically, a pair of efficiency consultants brought in to trim the staff think he's management material. When he learns that his friends Michael (David Herman) and Samir (Ajay Naidu) are about to be laid off, the three hatch a scheme to plant a computer virus that will skim tiny amounts of money from company accounts. But the plan quickly snowballs out of control, sending them into a panic, until something unexpected saves the day. With well-drawn characters and situations instantly familiar to anyone who's worked in an office, Judge captures the joylessness of cubicle life perfectly. Jennifer Aniston plays Peter's love interest, Joanna, a waitress at a chain restaurant who's fed up with wearing required "flair," Stephen Root is unforgettable as Milton, a mumbling, mistreated employee obsessed with his red stapler, and Diedrich Bader has a small but hilarious role as Peter's mustached, drywall-installing neighbor. It became a beloved cult classic.