Good concept, poorly executed.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

We were shown this film as part of a class with Herman Melville's story "Bartleby the Scrivener". While the story- and the film as well- were given to us under the context of Marxist criticism, without all the dark symbolism and heavy-ness of the satire it is a fairly good story. The inherent problem with a film of it, however, is that the story is less than half the length of the film of it; certain aspects are added to heigthen the mood of the Public Records office perhaps not totally needed. The director/co-writer Jonathan Parker has set up here an eclectic, unusual, but highly effective group of character actors for the task (Paymer is excellent as the boss, Glover containing a similar persona he would further creep out with in 2003's Willard remake, not to forget Cassell also, though Piscapo is s a little less adept with the others). The music is that sort of off-kilter kind that almost goes off the deep end itself. And the common phrase of the film (as well as the story), "I...prefer not to", will likely stay in your head for some time afterward. Who knows, perhaps there is more worth to watching the film in a Marxist-analysis context, there certainly is a lot to take apart. As a satire, the film does have some ground to keep its feet on. The problem is is that aside from the good mood and the well-played cast, the tries at humor are usually uncomfortably executed (and not in the good way like Meet the Parents or something). The whole unsure-of-society tone is right for the film, but if any sense should creep into the picture it falls apart from itself. It's the kind of film I was glad to see once, because now I know the story is much better (or, to put it another way, if I saw the film before reading the book, I would get the book right away, just to make sure).

If you are looking for humor...avoid! If you are looking for quirky depression....by all means, enjoy.I am always a fan of finding little known gems in the movie store, but this movie, unfortunately is not one of them. Despite having all of the makings of a delicious find (I believe the description on the jacket even said "side-splitting comedy!")I spent the next hour or so in a trance of 'I thought this was funny..." "Maybe it will get funnier once it is fully set up,' 'maybe it will get funny now,' 'maybe now!' It never got funny. In fact, the only character you can even hope to identify with is the boss, but very thinly. Oh sure, it had some hilarious moments, but they were very short lived and not enough to call this a comedy or sustain you through the rest of the slow and slipping plot towards utter collapse.I guess that is my main problem with it. The movie is quirky and (dare I say it) 'indy-ish' but NOT a comedy, despite the insistence of the tag-lines. For the most part it was vague and depressing, but it does manage to hold your attention, if only by sheer shock.

Bartleby is an excellent film. It was on HBO 2 days after I read Melville's "Bartleby" short story for college. This movie is a modernized version of Melville's tale but it keeps to the main purpose of the story very well without too much drastic changes and I think even Melville would approve of this movie. Do not see this movie without first carefully reading Melville's story first or it will not make sense to you and you won't enjoy it. This movie has some comedy to keep it light at times but the overall message that the viewer is supposed to get remains the same, I won't tell you the message so I don't spoil this movie for you. If you enjoy social comedies with depth in them this is your movie, if you only like comedies with cheesy humor than this is not the film for you. Personally, I will watch this movie again and I was pleasantly surprised, I highly recommend this "undiscovered" film.

Herman Melville's `Bartleby the Scrivener' has always been one of my all-time favorite short stories, a masterpiece of tone that features one of the most enigmatic characters in literary history. With devastating wit and understated irony – along with a keen appreciation for the absurdist and the surreal - Melville tells the tale of a well meaning though banally efficient pragmatist who is forced to reconsider his values when he runs up against a certified (and perhaps certifiably insane) nonconformist. After he hires Bartleby to be a clerk in his office, the (unnamed) employer quickly discovers that the taciturn, quirky young man has no intention of doing any work - and, even more strangely, that he feels no compulsion to explain his state of self-imposed inertia. What makes Bartleby fascinating is that he is a nonconformist simply by nature and not because he has any real bone to pick with society or the people around him. This lack of explanation frustrates the boss, of course, and some readers as well. But it is Bartleby's defining phrase, `I would prefer not to' - delivered like a refrain throughout the course of the story - that speaks for those in society who question the value and purpose of the myriad irrelevant tasks we are compelled to perform as we make our way through life.Melville conceived his story as a stinging indictment aimed against the dehumanizing effect of the business world's bureaucratic structure. How appropriate, then, that the makers of this current film version (now called simply `Bartleby') have chosen to set the tale in the present day, when that guiding philosophy has become, if anything, even more pronounced. David Paymer is splendid as the public records office manager who finds himself embroiled in an epic battle of wills against a force he cannot understand yet, in some bizarre fashion, can also not help identifying with and admiring. Crispin Glover is the pasty-faced Bartleby who seems to slip further and further into a state of catatonic madness as the story progresses. In their screenplay, Jonathan Parker (who also directed the film) and Catherine Di Napoli have retained the flavor of the original, combining hilarious and poignant moments in roughly equal measure. For even while we are laughing at the absurdity of both Bartleby and the other eccentric staff members in the office, we are also being made aware – as the boss is – of just how unique and admirable a creature Bartleby truly is.With its deliberate pacing, its starkly antiseptic, parti-colored sets and its eerily moody musical score (some of it reminiscent of Bernard Herrmann's work for `The Day the Earth Stood Still'), the film takes us to a highly stylized world where the events we see depicted come to make total sense. Only the most blatant realist will be inspired to question the wisdom of the main character's actions concerning Bartleby. All the rest of us will see the boss for the open-minded humanitarian Melville intended him to be.Parker has pulled together an interestingly offbeat group of actors to serve as his supporting cast, including Dick Martin, Joe Piscopo and Carrie Snodgrass. Glenne Headly is particularly wonderful as a flirtatious office worker who spends most of her time making suggestive comments, gestures and even foodstuffs to lure men her way.It's the extraordinarily controlled and brilliantly delivered deadpan humor that makes `Bartleby' an adaptation worthy of its source. This movie proves that Melville's nonpareil creation will forever be a timeless tale.