This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is the kind of movie that is a "love it or hate it" proposition. I don't believe there is much ground for neutrality. I found it to be original, with sharp dialog, and enough quirky characters to qualify as minimalist entertainment. This is not a bad thing, because the office setting maintains focus on the fine acting and keeps you involved. Bartleby is an enigma for sure, both sad and fascinating. Though not an outrageous black comedy, at it's heart is a dark premise, and that is how Bartleby affects his coworkers in different, and sometimes destructive ways. Their diverse reactions are what drives the film. For something memorable and different, I recommend "Bartleby" - MERK

I love Melville's work and expected the movie to be better. The screenwriter took too many liberties using modern day references. I thought David Paymer did a great job, but he was definitely miscast. I felt no sympathy for him. The boss was the central character, the narrator of this story. He should have been softer, more likable. No one in that story was likable. The music in the film was horrible, made me want to mute it. The sets were fake looking, too weird and colorful, like a throwback from the sixties. Why not create a little reality for the viewer, then introduce the non-conformist? That might have been more powerful. I also like Glover, I really enjoy his performances, but i think he played this one to harshly, with too much gloom. Melville's Bartleby was simply shut down, not angry in any way. Glover played angry, maybe unintentionally, but still. I'd hoped for better.

Like many people have said, I'd never heard of this film. Of course the fact that Crispin Glover stars in it made me rent it. The film's box had comments like "hilarious!", "An off-kilter delight." Off-kilter is a tame word to say the least. If you're looking for a film that's gonna make you laugh after a hard day - this is NOT it. It may cause you to become Bartelby.I'm not going to go over the plot as many reviews here already have. I'd just say that this is a VERY DARK movie, and morose at times. There are funny bits but they are creepy-funny. It IS worth seeing, because the acting is really good. But understand what this film really is - and that is: dark, surreal, strange and even a bit depressing. A great film if you're looking for something "weird" and "different" but don't expect knee-slappin' humor.

I found this movie disturbing. Advertised as a comedy, it is no such thing. There is a lot of comedy in there, all right, but overall the themes are heavy, disturbing, even horrific. Crispin Glover's performance is flawless, and his role in the story is to pose a lot of questions that never get answered. The story revolves around the other characters' failure to figure him out. The new employee at the Public Records Office in an unnamed city starts out doing a great job, but he does less and less work as time goes on until he is spending most of his time refusing requests to perform any job tasks, or simply gazing up into the air-conditioning vent. They fire him, but he doesn't leave. It gets worse from there, believe me.