neumu [ cinematronic ]




	Bartleby
	Jonathan Parker Crispin Glover, David Paymer, Glenne Headly, Maury Chakin, Seymour Cassell, Joe Piscopo, Dick Martin, Carrie Snodgress 2001		Inspired by Herman Melville's obscure 1856 novelette "Bartleby the Scrivener," this more-pallid-than-dark comedy caricatures the stultifying nature of clerical work. An outwardly harmonious municipal-records office swiftly spins off its axis with the arrival of Bartleby, an acquiescent, then obstinate, new employee. The original story has been updated, set in a drab, modular suburban building and turned into a weird, doleful mix of the "Dilbert" comic strip and the satirical film "Office Space." Any trace of life here comes from the crazy-quilt cast. Reputable character actors David Paymer, Glenne Headly, Maury Chakin and Seymour Cassell play, respectively, the clueless, decent boss, his sexed-up assistant, an unkempt petty functionary and the city manager; ex-"Saturday Night Live" flash Joe Piscopo is correctly cast as the office's odious ladies' man. They're the flip side to the sickly-looking Crispin Glover, whose repressed anguish as Bartleby gives him the air of a time bomb from the get-go.