Bartleby

20012001
PG-13PG-13
1h 23m

6.4/10

A complacent boss is flummoxed by a cryptic office worker whose refusal of duties is accompanied by the phrase, I WOULD PREFER NOT TO.

A clueless boss has no idea what to do with his mundane office worker whose refusal of duties only gets worse each passing minute.A clueless boss has no idea what to do with his mundane office worker whose refusal of duties only gets worse each passing minute.A clueless boss has no idea what to do with his mundane office worker whose refusal of duties only gets worse each passing minute.

6.4/10

Director
- Jonathan Parker
Writers
- Herman Melville(story "Bartleby the Scrivener")
- Jonathan Parker(screenplay)
- Catherine DiNapoli(screenplay)
Stars

Top credits

See production, box office & company info

See more at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 nomination

Videos1

Trailer 2:00

Bartleby

Crispin Glover and David Paymer in Bartleby (2001)

Glenne Headly, David Paymer, Maury Chaykin, and Joe Piscopo in Bartleby (2001)

Director
- Jonathan Parker
Writers
- Herman Melville(story "Bartleby the Scrivener")
- Jonathan Parker(screenplay)
- Catherine DiNapoli(screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

At a public records office, a seemingly normal boss has hired a new employee named Bartleby. Bartleby however, is eccentric and with each passing day, he begins to refuse his boss' orders which only gets worse. Eventually, the boss finds himself clueless as to what to do about Bartleby as he discovers even stranger things about him. —Mystic80

office worker public records office fired from the job employer employee relationship insubordination 153 more

Taglines
- I would prefer not to.
Genres
Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)
- Rated PG-13 for some sexual content
Parents guide

Trivia
Dick Martin's final acting performance.

Goofs
When the boss's date is straddling him in his office, sometimes her hair is wrapped in a scarf and sometimes it's not.

Quotes
Bartleby: I would prefer not to.

Crazy credits
Before the opening credits begin, viewers are given a portrait and short biography of Herman Melville, upon whose story the film is loosely based.

Connections
Referenced in Stargate Atlantis: The Lost Boys (2005)

Soundtracks
Phantasie #3 In D Minor
Written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (as Mozart)
Background music on piano by Nancy Spottiswoode

Top review

Melville's classic well-clothed in modern dress

Don't know if Melville would even recognize his marvelous short story as translated into this film, or even if he'd approve...although I think he might...because the spirit of the original is here.

The satire of office shenanigans as presented by Jonathan Parker brings humor to this rather sad tale of a man determined to bring his intransigent self to the workplace and even to life itself... in the extreme. The overall effect is humane and even when the laughter comes we know something poignant is going on. David Paymer is superb as the frustrated, distraught but empathetic boss who tries to get Bartleby to be a responsive, reasonable worker/person, to no avail. Crispin Glover is a rather ghostly looking Bartleby, in a performance that demands withholding, a difficult task, but one he meets quite well.

This is good entertainment and food for thought...not often the case in movies these days.

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