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Haiku Tunnel (2001)

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67 comments in total

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6 out of 8 people found the following comment useful :-
hysterically funny, 18 November 2003

Author: Charles Herold (cherold) from United States

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.

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5 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Laugh out loud in times of despair amd follow Josh to freedom., 21 August 2004

Author: deesartx (deesartx@aol.com) from Cotati, California

Haiku Tunnel was scheduled for its premier screening the weekend just after 9/11, the disaster. What unfortunate timing for this creative existential joy. The San Francisco theatre was packed and the audience laughed out loud with release and pleasure in protagonist Kornbluth's efforts to get by in his temp work under the evil eye of The Lawyer boss.

With a little help - and distraction - from his friends, Josh succeeds in satisfying our urge to cheer for the underdog while we laugh and groan at his self-defeating tactics to be creative in spite of the temp's office routine. This is also one of the funniest representations of the stereotypical lawyer as evil, secretary pool people as party pals, and the artist must create or implode - which ultimately challenges every existential angst Kirkegaard et al could have

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6 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Well done, despite critical reviews..., 22 September 2003
Author: JudgeX from Huntington, WV

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.

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3 out of 4 people found the following comment useful :-
A laugh a minute. This movie rules!, 8 February 2005

Author: dm3141 from United States

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.

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4 out of 6 people found the following comment useful :-
Weird, funny, fresh. I loved it!, 6 March 2004

Author: Andrew Werling (awerling)

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.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Better than Office Space, 22 August 2005

Author: Tiger (roguegenius) from United States

I recently caught this movie playing on the Independent Movie channel. I rarely comment on movies but found this one to be quite inventive and humorous. The characters were well developed and were close to what you would expect to find in almost any office. In comparison to that other office based comedy, Office Space, this one is actually worth watching. I was pleasantly surprised to have run across such a gem like this.

I am pleased to recommend this movie for someone looking for something a bit unconventional. There has not been a couple of brothers like the Kornbluth's since the Coens. If Haiku Tunnel is any indication, they will be bringing us great things to see for a long, long time.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Close enough to real life to accent the absurdity, 31 May 2005

Author: dgaither from Mountain View, CA

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.

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
A mixed bag, but a unique one at that, 15 February 2005

Author: ALauff from Chicago

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Based on his theatrical monologue, Josh Kornbluth stars, writes and directs this office comedy that has an uncannily offbeat feel for character and dialogue, but succumbs to some degree to stupid, if not lazy, digressions: When the pages to a lost document begin speaking like a grateful child to the porcine procrastinator, well, sorry, but you have to do better than that. He is a skilled writer, however, and his feel for the mundane repetitions of office life are disarming and quite hilarious. As an actor, he has a built-in series of facial expressions that effectively substitute for emoting or playing a character. In the spirit of Peter Gibbons (Office Space), his malaise and utter disinterest in all things work-related becomes a sort of appealing ethos; long live the defiant slacker.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
two definitions of mugging, 27 March 2004

Author: ThurstonHunger from Palo Alto, CA, USA

There's bug-eyed mugging, as in what Josh Kornbluth does a little too much in this film. And then there's the brutal mugging that this film is receiving here in IMDB comments. Ouch.

Much of the latter seems to stem around some resentment regarding this film and "Office Space." I've not seen the latter yet, but it seems to me "Haiku Tunnel" is a total ripoff of "Magnolia."

Kidding...kidding. That's my own little inside joke.

As for the jokes in here, I guess they might be somewhat inside. But I think if you've ever felt a bit like a stow-away on a job, you could connect with some of the alienation that Josh pokes fun at. All of the other characters here really are just foils for Josh, that might bug some folks.

Generally I found the amateurish charm to work here. I love "catalog" humor, and we get some of that early on in regards to types of fellow temps and types of lawyers. Quick flicks through stereotypes work for me usually. The film does slow down (as almost all comedies do) towards the end, when the plot piper must be paid.

Along those lines, in a bad horror film, I often will want to yell at the screen "Call the cops...NOW!" During this film, you will likely reach a point, as my wife and I did, where you will want to scream, "Mail the damned letters...NOW!" But we both did laugh throughout this. She especially loved the scene where Josh's boss won't let him quit, especially during Josh's litany of reasons that he is a bad seed.

But why do so many people, so strongly dislike this film?

If I squint my memory, I can sort of reimagine Kornbluth as Garfield (the cat, not the president). Maybe that is why some folks find him so patently unfunny. Just thinking about a punchline involving "Lasagna" and that comic strip sets my blood to boiling. Could that be it?

Or maybe some of the smirks that Kornbluth lobs towards the camera have the effect on others that a laugh track has on me. This does have a bit of a sitcom feel, but at least it isn't dragged out over 100 episodes. And there are some unique idiosyncratic moments here.

Or perhaps some folks need to be able to identify with the main character in a comedy, and Josh comes across with a little too much self-confidence and well, a little too much self. It's okay for Bill Murray to have too much of the former, just like it's okay for Chris Farley to have too much of the latter. But put them in one body, and look out?

I don't know what it is. But evidently half of you out there really shouldn't see this film. Not even on cable, late at night. I decided to watch this after seeing the trailer along time ago, so maybe look at that first? Or cross-check my other reviews...I recommend this one with a

7/10

PS You can fault Kornbluth's sense of humor, but certainly not his taste in music! Great songs through-out.

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3 out of 5 people found the following comment useful :-
Do you wanna go 'perm'?, 16 September 2001
Author: Aussie Stud from Providence, Rhode Island

Josh Kornbluth wrote, directed and stars in this hilarious look at the world of corporate business and office politics.

He plays himself, a pathetic loser who lives a 'temporary' life, that involves both his relationships and his profession. When his temping company assigns him to a law firm titled "Schuyler & Mitchell" (a.k.a. "S & M" - geddit?), he is offered a permanent position of employment. As an incentive to get him to stay, one of the most hilarious lines in the film is offered right here - "We'll even cover your psychotherapy!"

When he becomes permanent, his first task is to mail out 17 important letters that he fails to do and as a result, turns his entire life upside down.

Warren Keith is hilarious as 'Bob Shelby', Josh's boss - who very much so resembles Satan himself. Harry Shearer is also hilarious as the guy who takes charge of the 'one-day' office orientation which includes troubleshooting the broken photo-copier. But the biggest laugh here is Josh Kornbluth himself.

Never have I seen a film set in the office place since Mike Judge's comedy 'OFFICE SPACE' that I found so strikingly hilarious.

9/10

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