Bartleby (2001)

Bartleby: Directed by Jonathan Parker. With David Paymer, Crispin Glover, Glenne Headly, Maury Chaykin. A clueless boss has no idea what to do with his mundane office worker whose refusal of duties only gets worse each passing minute.

“Herman Melvilleu0026#39;s short story u0026quot;Bartleby the Scriveneru0026quot; gets a slightly surreal update in this offbeat comedy drama. The manager (David Paymer) of the city records department in a mid-sized California community decides that his staff of three – flirty chatterbox Vivian (Glenne Headly), sloppy Vietnam vet Ernie (Maury Chaykin), and slick-suited, Don Juan wannabe Rocky (Joe Piscopo) – could use some help, so he places an ad looking for a new employee. The boss ends up hiring the one and only applicant who wants the position, a quiet, pale young man named Bartleby (Crispin Glover).u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003etAt first, Bartleby is a model of efficiency, but before long he loses enthusiasm for his job, much to the annoyance of his co-workers, and soon heu0026#39;s spending his days staring at an air conditioning vent. The Boss asks Bartleby to get back to work, but Bartlebyu0026#39;s repeated reply to such requests is, u0026quot;I prefer not to,u0026quot; and the Boss sees little recourse but to fire him.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003etHowever, Bartleby refuses to leave his desk, and it soon becomes obvious that Bartleby has not only stopped doing his work – heu0026#39;s stopped going home and has moved into the office. tBartleby was the first feature film for producer/director Parker. He also wrote the screenplay, in collaboration with Catherine Di Napoli.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003etThere is really not enough material in Melvilleu0026#39;s story to warrant a feature length film. When u0026quot;Bartlebyu0026quot; sticks to the text of the story it is interesting and fairly funny, but Parker is forced to add a lot of filler which is simply not very good. Worth a look, but in the end, a bit weak.”