By Andrew Stires · May 30, 2011
Screenplay Genre: Comedy / Crime
Movie Time: 89 minutes
1. INCITING INCIDENT
Hoping to find a way to cope with his job, Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston) accompanies his girlfriend Anne (Alexandra Wentworth) to see Dr. Swanson (Michael McShane), a hypnotherapist. To help him relax, Dr. Swanson hypnotizes Peter but then suffers a fatal heart attack leaving Peter trapped in an altered state. (00:21:43)
2. LOCK IN (End of Act One)
Peter meets Joanna (Jennifer Aniston) for lunch and tells her his plan to stop going to work. Joanna is puzzled at first, thinking that he is quitting, but Peter reiterates that he is simply just not going to go to work anymore. He then tells her he does not plan look for another job nor continue to pay his bills. All he wants to do is take Joanna out to dinner and then go back to his place to watch reruns of Kung Fu. (00:31:35)
3. FIRST CULMINATION (Midpoint)
After executing a plan with his co-workers Samir (Ajay Naidu) and Michael Bolton (David Herman) to steal money from Initech using a simple computer virus, Peter withdraws money from the ATM only to discover over $300k in his bank account. Their plan did indeed work, but a miscalculation on Michael's part will now most likely lead to their arrest and conviction. (1:06:12)
4. MAIN CULMINATION (End of Act Two)
After weighing his options and realizing he doesn’t have much of a choice, Peter decides to take all the blame for the crime. He writes a confession note to Bill Lumberg (Gary Cole) and slides it under his office door along with all the money he stole. A second later, dives to the floor, peering under the door to try to retrieve the note, but it's too late. (1:17:22)
5. THIRD ACT TWIST
Peter arrives at Initech ready accept his punishment only to discover his workplace burning to the ground. It turns out disgruntled employee Milton (Stephen Root) was finally pushed too far, so he set fire to Initech and absconded with the stolen money, thereby giving Peter the opportunity to start fresh with a new outlook on life. (1:19:53)
