Quartier général

I was sitting around the other day looking for a movie and found this one. Having nothing better to do, I watched it without any hopes of great comedy entertainment. I was wrong. I laughed all the way through. Why? Because it so much resembled the Fortune 500 Company I used to work for! Kids if you're smart you'll avoid big business. Its wasteful, evil and the way practiced, brings out the worst in human nature. Watch this movie, for in its satirical way it shows everything wrong with American business practices in big corporate America. When the executives were lunching and actually gave some credence to the flippant remark that Issel made "why not just kill him", it struck home with me, because I believe that at least some corporate executives would not stop at murder to accomplish an end--usually a personal one and not even one to further their companies. To me this satire works oh too well!

This movie takes about the same cynically detached view of corporate America as Blake Edward's "S.0.B." took toward the movie industry. The thing about this movie that bears attention is that, even if it is "just" an 80s farce starring a lot of actors who haven't done much lately, the issues it raises, primarily the off-shoring of American jobs, are even more relevant today than they were then.

The cast, as a whole, is first rate. Judge Reinhold is the recent business school graduate courted by the massive INC Corporation for his Senator father's favors. As a result, he manages to get promoted repeatedly no matter how badly he screws up. He winds up doing the right thing just to stay alive. This is one of those movies that offers me moments when I can't catch my breath from laughing. I have seen it a number of times and the Rick Moranas conversation with his Mercedes dealer almost kills me every time. It has a number of very subtle corporate digs that will make you laugh till you cry if you catch them as they whiz by.

Overall rating: 7 out of 10.

About 20 years ago I ran into Eddie Albert at "Disneyworld", and asked him about one of the greatest "black comedies" of all time, "Head Office". What I wanted to know was, with a great cast, and a terrific script, how come the film sank into obscurity? His answer was that the studio thought it hit a little too close to home, lampooning big business. What makes "Head Office" so special is that the lack of communication between top executives and the people who are actually on the firing line, is all true. "Never make a decision, just approve other peoples decisions" I love this movie, and if you enjoy "dark comedy" this is one of the best. - MERK

Always liked this movie for some of the hilarious stuff it contained with the sharp, biting satire about corporate life and the treachery and ultra selfishness that world embraces and encourages by its very nature. Fun to see Rick Moranis in this after his SCTV years and I enjoy the typically deadpan Judge Reinhold comedy style in this movie. LMAO at some scenes in this movie when it first came out but I think the humor today is harder to enjoy by the current batch of folks who never experienced the '80s as teens or adults. Thus, the comedy might be somewhat dated by today's standards, but I still enjoy this movie even now. Overall, I still think this movie is better than most reviews that give it a paltry 3-4 stars out of 10. IMHO it deserves an 8...

I agree with most of the previous reviews, but I'd like to emphasize that not only is the first half of this movie great, its as funny and ahead of its time as it gets. An absolute classic and contains some of its actors' best work. Rick Moranis is one of the comic geniuses of his generation and his brief scenes are worth the entire experience alone. I've quoted his big line in appropriate situations (unfortunately to no appreciation / recognition) more than any other movie joke. This is the only feature film where he's as funny as in his best moments from SCTV and SNL. Eddie Albert's very first scene and punch line is one of the greatest satirical jokes ever written of this genre. Michael O'Donoghue's deadpan performance is chillingly convincing, etc, etc. Yes, there is the obligatory Judge Rhienhold "voice of sanity" character who's storyline gradually sinks the movie into formulaic banality (and I subtract just one point for that), but the first half of this thing is an absolute must-see for any satirical comedy fan. I'll go further - this movie, at its best, is the most underrated American comedy ever. Period.