All Rise...

Judge David Johnson is wearing the minimum amount of flair and that's that.

Editor's Note

Our review of Office Space: Special Edition With Flair, published November 1st, 2005, is also available.

The Charge

Yeah.

Opening Statement

Mike Judge's legendary satire of cubicle life arrives on Blu-ray, blasting out sexy Lundberg action in sweet HD.

Facts of the Case

For disengaged and bored Pete Gibbons (Ron Livingston, Band of Brothers) the daily grind at the Initech Corporation is unbearable. Or as he puts it, since he started working, each day is worst than the last. In a desperate attempt to return meaning to his life, Pete sees a hypnotist, the results of which transform him into the most apathetic human being ever to walk the Earth. His new approach to life leads him into a relationship with an attractive, kung-fu-loving waitress (Jennifer Aniston, The Break-Up), a shifty scheme to embed a computer virus into banking software, and a promotion.

Who here hasn't seen this movie before?

Anyone?

Anyone?

The Evidence

Do I really need to burn through a handful of paragraphs to say how awesome Office Space is? Of course not. We all know it's awesome; a subversive, bitingly clever smackdown delivered to a target rich in comedic potential. And man if Mike Judge doesn't nail everything. First, a few of my favorite moments, then on to the nuts and bolts of the Blu-ray:

The Computer Scheme
The build-up to the swindle is more complex than the actual execution ("That was easy." "Yeah, that was easy."), but watching Pete and his idiot friends sweat the details is priceless. And I love how Superman III is consistently credited as their inspiration.

Dietrich Bader
An underrated component in the machine. His scenes are limited, but they're all righteous—breast examination lady, I'm looking at you.

Lumberg's O-Face
When I first saw that dream sequence I gut-laughed for a solid five minutes straight.

That's just a sampling of the greatness of this movie, as I'm sure 80% of the free world would agree. Of course, there's so much more: The printer beatdown, the hardcore gangster rap soundtrack, the fish de-boning, the TPS reports, Michael Bolton, the foiled suicide attempt, the Jump to Conclusions Mat, the flair, looking up "money laundering,"…

The question is: Should you invest in the Blu-ray upgrade? The short answer is…Yes, if you're looking for a fine technical improvement; Probably not, if it's compelling bonus features you're after. The enhanced 1.85:1 widescreen is notably improved. The details and colors are striking and represents a significant bump in visual fidelity. The film obviously isn't loaded with big set-pieces. but if you want the best looking fish skeleton draped over a TPS report you've ever seen, here you go. Sound is straightforward, but that rap soundtrack pounds with the 5.1 DTS-HD Master audio. The most substantial extras—the well-done retrospective featuring Judge and his cast, and the deleted scenes—are holdovers from the DVD special edition. Added to the Blu-ray are two interactive games that run through the feature (which you can't skip or scan through, unfortunately) and a pop-up trivia track. The effort to spice up the high-def release is appreciated—trivia track, interactive games—but these additions aren't very exciting.

Closing Statement

Classic movie, great-looking Blu-ray, but the HD-specific extras don't impress.

The Verdict

I'm going to go ahead and need you to be Not Guilty.

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