Haiku Tunnel (2001) Reviews

• Weird, funny, fresh. I loved it!

  awerling2004-03-06

  While this film has its moments of "corporate spoof," I wouldn't say that's its main thrust. Haiku Tunnel reminds me more of The Critic, in that it seems to exist in its own universe. The cleverness of the writing brought me right into that universe, all the while knowing that the very surreal atmosphere in this guy's world was a near guarantee that everything would turn out okay. After a stressful work week myself, this was the perfect relief. I would say I recommend this to the whole wide world, but judging from the other reviews here that would be silly. Some folks got into the humor, some did not. I must say I'm getting close to NOT reading the reviews of movies I loved, because the reviews are tending towards cruel. Haiku Tunnel does not deserve such treatment. And please, if you don't bother to watch a film all the way through, why bother reviewing it at all? I'm mystified. Go with your instinct here, folks. It's obviously not for everyone, but I gave it a 10.

• hysterically funny

  cherold2003-11-18

  I only watched this because I was intrigued by the title and when I read the description in the online tv listings it just said, "temp job becomes permanent," and I wanted to see how you could get a movie out of that. Anyway, this film is absolutely wonderful, laugh out loud funny throughout. It's based on a monologue by Josh Kornbluth, parts of which are included, and that's probably the weakest part of the movie, since while it probably worked great with an audience some of it seems overly silly and frenetic without a live audience laughing. But most of it is utterly amazing, especially for us ex temps who loved Clockwatchers, and there are some wonderful performances, most notably Helen Shumaker as a Nurse Ratchet-style head secretary and Warren Keith as Josh's low-key boss. Well worth seeing, I gave it 8/10 in the vote.

• Close enough to real life to accent the absurdity

  dgaither2005-05-31

  Anyone who has worked in a corporate office will recognize characters and events in this movie which will make you laugh out loud and wince at the same time. For example there's a one-day orientation class which is totally mind numbing. This movie also contains the best depiction yet of SysAdmin support for the computers, although it is only in two brief scenes. As an IT support professional, I'd like all my users to watch this movie just for these two scenes. The same weekend, I watched Way Downtown which makes similar points about the drudgery of office work, but had far fewer laugh-out-loud moments. I've never worked as a temp, but I've had several temps work on my team and have observed the changes in attitude and behavior that occur when one of them makes the transition to "perm" and Josh compresses that evolution into just his first week of work. Highly recommended.

• Well done, despite critical reviews...

  JudgeX2003-09-22

  Let me start by saying I have very little in common with a law temp. This movie cannot be likened to Office Space except for in the fact that it deals with typical corporate America. I see complaints that this movie is an inside joke, only understandable by certain people, etc... etc... It's a really well done description of an experience, it's funny, and it describes with great accuracy the void experienced when life, in general sucks... The well done monologue regarding his love for his own bed... his reaction upon meeting with the bed... his diversion from actual work to mess around writing his own novel rather than doing his work... his delaying of the easy work for gaps in the hard work... and various other details... the interaction with the guard and attempt to fast-talk his way into the building... all of these little parts are done so well and each one describes a flawed piece of the American workplace... with a dash of humor, this movie is extremely well done and something I think everyone should at least watch. The negative reviews I read cast a dark shadow over my appreciation for the rest of the movie watching crowd... if you don't work as part of an office, you should most certainly NOT write a review for this... and if you work in an office and you wrote a bad review for this movie... maybe you should watch it again and realize which putz in the movie most accurately represents you, and then change your management style to more adequately fit your employees... I think the accuracy of this film stabs manager-types in the chest with their own inadequacy and lack of insight, and appeals to those who work under them by illuminating the cycle of depression and cynicism the office instills.... and I think this was the goal of the movie, as well as drawing a few laughs. Let me conclude by saying that this movie is NOT office space... it has very little to do with it. Office space is very 1 dimensional and thus more humorous... dealing with the utter lack of importance most of our work seems to have behind it (Filing those reports, using the right header) while this movie approaches the feeling of dread (the haiku tunnel itself) we face when given too much lattitude in pointless work after long periods of time, and the struggle to fit in with a model of business partially unfamiliar with what we do (working at S&M as a perm rather than temp, doing more than word processing)... While not a world apart from Office Space, it is in fact more complex, more telling, less hollywood, and slightly less funny than it's counterpart.

• A laugh a minute. This movie rules!

  dm31412005-02-08

  I don't understand the other rating; this movie is excellent. All the role types that the characters have are as funny as those role types get, and they are are just adorable. The actors are in 100% stand-up comic imitation mode the whole time, and you wind up loving them all. One character, Marlena, who has a very stoic nature, is always accompanied by the sound of wind blowing desolately. Another, Mindy, is the classic over the top sweetness-and-pie secretary who gets a little out of control once she's had a few drinks after work. The main character, Josh, is actually one of my least favorite, but he's very appropriate and necessary for the whole theme of the movie, which is his fear of commitment in going from temp to perm. The concept is frighteningly accurate for anyone who has ever worked in the law industry (at least in the United States, I can't speak for elsewhere) and has ever felt a measure of trepidation at committing to things. But you needn't have worked in law to be able to relate. Virtually anyone with half a brain who's ever had an office job can relate to this movie. The flow of the movie is wisely done and finishes with all loose ends concisely and pleasingly tied up. The soundtrack comprises a variety of independent punk rock and other stuff, all of which I enjoyed very much, and it is very difficult to please me musically right off the bat. I honestly cannot understand why anyone might hate this movie, let alone walk out on it! It's accurate, fun, hilarious, well-timed, has a great soundtrack, good and funny plot, very appropriate title... If your taste in comedies goes beyond the "Something About Mary" genre, definitely see Haiku Tunnel.