February 19, 1999 | You don't have to be a white-collar wage slave to enjoy the uproarious funny business of Office Space. But the movie is even more satisfying if you can recognize the bitter truths behind the hilarious gags. Written and directed by Mike Judge, creator of Beavis and Butt-Head and King of the Hill, this slapdash but sharp-edged satire will delight any former or current corporate drone who ever daydreamed about blowtorching his cubicle or fracturing her fax machine.

And if you have somehow managed to avoid a rigid 9-to-5 work routine -- well, Office Space will make you all the more grateful for your good fortune.

Ron Livingston (Swingers) stars as Peter Gibbons, a young computer-programmer at the all-too-typical Initech Corporation. Peter hates everything about his job -- the stifling and spirit-killing routine, the petty demands of procedure-obsessed superiors, the rampant paranoia caused by efficiency experts with a license to downsize. Trouble is, Peter also hates the idea of losing a steady paycheck.

Desperate to make his life more bearable, or at least less miserable, Peter consults an "occupational hypnotherapist." Unfortunately, the therapist suffers a fatal heart attack just before he can revive Peter from an attitude-adjusting trance. But the tragedy has an upside: Once he's liberated from chronic anxieties about his job, Peter becomes totally immune to fears of unemployment. In short, he stops caring, and starts living.

Much to the consternation of his smarmy boss (Gary Cole), Peter blithely ignores a directive to work on weekends. Monday through Friday, he arrives at the office whenever the mood strikes him. On those increasingly rare occasions when he is at his desk, Peter wraps fish with tedious paperwork, plays games on his computer terminal -- and refuses to even pretend he is accomplishing anything important.

At a nearby restaurant, the new-and-improved Peter is very appealing to a work-stressed waitress (Jennifer Aniston). But in the uptight world of Initech, our hero is viewed by his superiors -- and quite a few co-workers -- as subversive, if not revolutionary. 

Office Space is Judge's first live-action, feature-length effort, and it's more fun than an after-work party at an all-night happy hour. Never mind that, sometimes, it seems almost as chaotic. Judge is so dead-on accurate with his sharply satirical barbs that it matters surprisingly little that he cobbles together such a herky-jerky plot.

At first, Office Space seems to be a modern-day adaptation of -- no kidding! -- Bartleby the Scrivener, Herman Melville's classic story about a discontented auditing clerk who simply refuses to work. But Judge moves the story in a different direction when two efficiency experts decide Peter is "a straight-shooter with upper management written all over him." (Think of this segment as How to Succeed in Business Without Giving a Damn.) And then, just when it looks like the movie will chart Peter's effortless rise up the corporate ladder, Office Space suddenly becomes a caper comedy, as Peter aids two downsized co-workers with a high-tech embezzling scheme.

Livingston strikes a deft balance of nonchalance and befuddlement that may put you in mind of a younger Tom Hanks. Standouts in the supporting cast include David Herman and Ajay Naidu as Peter's vengefully larcenous co-workers, Gary Cole as the soft-spoken, self-absorbed boss from hell, Diedrich Bader as Peter's redneck next-door neighbor and, best of all, Stephen Root as a disgruntled office worker whose mumbled threats of revenge should be taken very seriously.

Jennifer Aniston of Friends has relatively little to do, despite her prominent billing, but she capably handles the undemanding task of providing romantic interest. Better still, she strikes her own blow for wage-slave liberation when her waitress rebels against a condescending boss. Aniston's character is criticized for lacking sufficient "flair." No one will ever accuse Office Space of a similar shortcoming.