When Mike Judge’s workplace satire, Office Space, was released in 1999, while reviewed positively, it was a massive flop by all considerable measures. It barely made back its $10 million budget, but through word of mouth and video home rentals, it has become a classic cult comedy. And now, after twenty-three years, most of the cast have reunited, albeit in a somewhat peculiar way–for a Black Friday Ad.
The Walmart advertisement, posted to their official Youtube, runs for just over a minute and sees the return of Initech, the dead-eyed yet chipper receptionist Nina (Kinna McInroe), everyone’s favorite boss to hate Bill Lumbergh (Gary Cole), Samir (Ajay Naidu), A temp still going on about a case of the Mondays (Jennifer Jane Emerson), and even the hilarious handlebar-mustached-handyman Lawerence (Diedrich Bader) makes an appearance. The ad–titled a Case of the Mondays–promotes Walmart’s Black Friday Deals, which no longer span a single day, but up to the following Monday. You can watch the video below.
While the likes of Ron Livingston’s Peter, Jennifer Aniston’s Joanna, and Stephen Root’s Milton are sorely missed, it’s fantastic to see most of the original cast come together, even if it is for a Megastore Black Friday Ad. It makes one long for an official reunion. It may be possible with the twenty-fifth anniversary only a few years away.
The Cultural Impact of Office Space
Though Office Space didn’t set the box office on fire upon its release, you would be hard-pressed to point out a comedic film with as much tangible cultural impact as it did. Did you know that the Mike Judge movie basically invented red staplers? The stapler manufacturer Swingline didn’t offer a red version of their classic model, but Judge needed a color that would pop on screen. So the director took the situation into his own hands and had an auto body shop paint the prop stapler. Thanks to the film’s popularity, fans began seeking out the red office supply only to find they didn’t exist. Seeing a demand in the market, Swingline soon began offering red staplers in its line of products–becoming one of the company’s biggest sellers.
The movie’s impact doesn’t end with staplers. The satire skewered the required use of flair by Chockie’s restaurant employees. Famously, Aniston’s character has a brilliant blow-up over her use of the bare minimum of flair. So many customers referred to the Office Space joke that TGI Fridays discontinued all use of flair. All TGI Friday’s employees owe a thank you to Mike Judge.
The cultural impacts keep coming because the two-decades-old comedy is also responsible for coining the humorous term ass clown. That’s right, ass clown is in the cultural vernacular, thanks to Office Space.
Mike Judge is no stranger to being ahead of his time. His follow-up to Office Space was the 2006 cultural satire Idiocracy–a seemingly stupid film much smarter than it was initially given credit for– was also a major flop. However, the main difference with Idiocracy was that it was released with no trailer and almost no advertisement. But sixteen years after its release, the movie is experiencing its cult status rise as well.
Judge is currently busy producing stuff like Paramounts+’s well-reviewed Beavis and Butthead Do the Universe. Still, I think it’s time we get the writer/director back behind the camera because he has far too much to say not to be creating new and relevant movies. Maybe an Office Space 2? Until then, enjoy these 9 Great Mike Judge Movies And TV Shows.
Until an Office Space follow-up is announced or an official cast reunion takes place with everyone back, we will have to settle for this cute Walmart ad. The original movie is available to stream with a Hulu subscription. For all your news about upcoming movie releases, stay tuned to CinemaBlend.
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