Bartleby (2001)

REVIEW
"I would prefer not to" is the popular phrase uttered from Bartleby's lips in this update of Herman Melville's Bartleby the Scribner. Glover plays the title character with his trademark coldness and creepiness as an eccentric new employee at a public records firm. At first Bartleby wins props as an effecient filer, but as time goes by, Bartleby's will to do anything anymore fades and he eventually does nothing but say "I would prefer not to," leaving his boss (Paymer) a bit incredulous. A little on the uneven side in its execution (occasionally the film comes to a complete halt in story momentum and character motivation), Bartleby is still an entertaining look at the numbing effect the corporate and government world can have on people, working as a wake-up call to those wasting away in dead-end jobs.