Film

Office Space

Name: Office Space
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1999
Cast: Ron Livingston, Jennifer Aniston, David Herman, Ajay Naidu, Diedrich Bader

Mike Judge's satire of cubicle life turned TPS reports and fluorescent lighting into a whole cultural language. A depressed programmer stops caring about his job and, paradoxically, everything gets better — right up until the embezzlement scheme kicks in. It's low-key, quotable, and dead-on about the specific misery of open-plan despair. For anyone who has ever hated a stapler.

TMDb rating

7.4

If you liked this

Idiocracy2006

Same director, same deadpan disdain for institutional stupidity, just aimed at civilization instead of one office. Judge's cynicism scales up beautifully and it's somehow gotten funnier as reality catches up to it.

But Broader and dumber by design — the satire is a sledgehammer where Office Space used a scalpel.

Silicon Valley2014

Judge again, this time skewering tech-bro culture with the same eye for humiliating meetings and pointless hierarchy. If you wanted more Office Space, this is the closest thing to a sequel he ever made.

But Six seasons is a big ask, and the startup jargon can feel dated fast.

The Office2005

Gervais and Merchant's original mockumentary nails the same low-stakes despair — the meetings that go nowhere, the boss who thinks he's beloved. Shorter, meaner, and British to its bones.

But Cringe comedy this concentrated isn't for everyone; David Brent can be genuinely hard to watch.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Severance2022

Both ask what happens when work fully consumes the self — Severance just takes the metaphor and makes it real.

Takes the exact premise — hating your job so much you'd erase your own mind to escape it — and turns it into unsettling sci-fi. The cubicle dread here is literal and existential.

But Slow-burn and eerie rather than funny; if you wanted jokes, this trades them for dread.

Fight Club1999

Released the same year, it's the id to Office Space's ego — same corporate numbness, same fantasy of blowing it all up, just with considerably more violence and hair gel.

But Tonally it's a gut-punch dressed as a joke; nihilism this stylish isn't always a comfortable watch.

Clerks1994

Kevin Smith's black-and-white debut is the retail-counter cousin — same slacker philosophy, same sense that work is an absurd interruption to actual life, delivered in rapid-fire dialogue.

But Cheap, scrappy, and proudly unpolished — the charm depends on you liking that roughness.

Horrible Bosses2011no page yet

Takes the daydream of getting even with an awful employer and actually follows through on it. Broader and more plot-driven, but the workplace rage is recognisably the same species.

But Trades character comedy for farce; it's funny but nowhere near as observational or quotable.

Nine to Five1980

The original office revenge fantasy, decades before Office Space, with Lily Tomlin, Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton turning workplace humiliation into glorious comic vengeance.

But Very much a product of its era — the satire is broader and the plot turns genuinely wild.

Waiting...2005no page yet

Same soul-numbing service-industry grind, relocated to a restaurant kitchen, with the same low-key camaraderie among people who all secretly hate the job.

But Cruder and rowdier — less workplace satire, more raunchy hangout comedy.

Superstore2015

An ensemble sitcom that finds the same absurd dignity in low-wage retail work, with a warmth Office Space never quite bothers with but the same eye for corporate nonsense.

But Sitcom-sweet where Office Space is bone-dry; if you wanted more cynicism, this softens it.

The Apartment1960

Same moral rot inside the org chart, same quietly desperate everyman — Peter's ancestor in a grey flannel suit.

Billy Wilder's black-and-white classic invented the corporate soul-sale decades early — a nice guy loaning out his apartment to climb the office ladder, dressed up as a bittersweet romance.

But It's a Christmas-set romantic drama first, comedy second — expect melancholy, not deadpan gags.

American Factory2019

Strips away the comedy to show the real version of the drudgery Peter's cubicle life was mocking all along.

A documentary following real Ohio factory workers after a Chinese company takes over their plant — the soul-grinding routines Office Space jokes about, happening to actual people.

But There's no punchline here, and it earns its sadness — a sobering watch, not a fun one.