Workin' 9 to 5

Arizona Daily Wildcat Yucky.

For anyone who ever thought a college education would get you a well-paying job, the respect of your peers and a swanky home, "Office Space" is here to hand you your reality check. In truth, the boys of "Office Space," namely Peter (Ron Livingston), Michael (David Herman), and Sumir (Ajay Naidu) have learned the hard way that, more often than not, a good education means little to corporate America. The things that do mean something are productivity, efficiency and profit at the expense of compassion and human decency. Bossman, Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole) exudes this sense of corporate greed with every sibilant syllable.

Based on "Milton," a series of animated shorts occasionally shown on Saturday Night Live, Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead and King of the Hill) has caricaturized the work place beautifully with his feature-length "Office Space." From the oppressive fluorescent lighting to the sterile, gray cubicles, Judge has nailed every detail, even personifying the company printer as a malicious, document-eating angel of hell. His cast of characters is also complete: There's the high-pitched and monotonous secretary, Nina (Kinna McInroe), the too-perky-for-a-Monday temp (Jennifer Jane Emerson), perverted office boy, Drew (Greg Pitts), the thirty-years-with-the-company-and-still-without-a-raise employee Tom Smykowsk (Richard Riehle), and the mild-mannered psychotic, Milton played by Stephen Root (aka News Radio's Jimmy James).

But comedy isn't all this movie is about. Nay, "Office Space" is an intense drama that delves deep into the human psyche.

Indeed Judge has a true understanding of the human specimen. Don't believe me? Just watch the first five minutes and tell me the exact same thing doesn't go through your mind on the morning commute to campus.

All in all, "Office Space" is a perfect tribute to the nineties work ethic: "Aw, fuck it."