Office Space (1999)

Twenty years of movies, twenty episodes, one final destination: a soul-crushing office park somewhere in generic suburban America. Office Space is Nic's pick to close out 2 Dads 2 Decades, and honestly, there's no better way to go out: a movie that gave an entire generation its workplace vocabulary before most of them had set foot in a workplace.

Both dads know this one cold. For Nic, it was the put-it-on-before-you-go-out movie, the kind of thing you'd seen so many times the early parts were automatic. Steve caught it the same way a lot of people did: Comedy Central, late night, dorm room, falling asleep to the DVD menu looping.

The conversation that follows is the kind you have when everyone already knows the movie and nobody needs the plot explained. Steve flags that Office Space might be the first film with an all-white cast and a completely sincere hip-hop soundtrack -- not ironic, not parodic, just what the characters actually listened to. They spend serious time on Gary Cole, who both dads agree is the secret weapon of the whole thing (Nic floats a case for listing him above David Herman in the opening credits and has a point). They argue, affectionately, about whether "no-talent ass clown" is a Mike Judge original or pre-existing slang, and land on Judge. Steve admits he has legitimately come around on Michael Bolton the musician, cites "Time, Love and Tenderness" as a genuine banger, and is not apologizing for it.

There's a lengthy detour about going to a county fair hypnotist with his daughter that Nic will never fully live down. John C. McGinley pulling taffy with his hands while Bob Slydell beams with excitement over a guy who does nothing. Lawrence and his bottle opener. The printer dying to "Still" in a field. The Jump to Conclusions Mat getting the contempt it deserves.

The federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison line? Yeah, they clock it. Doesn't hold up.

What does hold up is Peter figuring out he'd rather swing a shovel outdoors than update bank software. Sometimes the answer really is that simple.