The fate of a yearly Christmas bash in a conservative company rests in the hands of its rowdy employees, in “Office Christmas Party”. When the cranky, powerful CEO Carol Vanstone (Jennifer Aniston) tries to close her hard-partying brother Clay’s (T.J. Miller) annual shindig, he and his Chief Technical Officer Josh Parker (Jason Bateman) must rally their co-workers and host an epic office Christmas party like no other in an effort to impress a potential client and close a sale that will save their jobs and restore faith to their boss. After a night of uninvited guests and rowdy debauchery, the employees try to keep order through one crazy ordeal after the next. The latest comedy from directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck co-stars Kate McKinnon, Olivia Munn, Jillian Bell, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, Sam Richardson, Jamie Chung, and Courtney B. Vance. It is rated R for for crude sexual content and adult language throughout, drug use and graphic nudity.
“Office Christmas Party” is destined to be one of those movies that people overlook for its comically stacked cast, as well as the debauchery that happens that’s sure to be a favorite to the Youtube generation known for five second clips. That’s ultimately what this movie gives us; brief glimpses of a funnier, strongly-paced, and more meaningful movie than the one we got here. I understand that to judge a movie called “Office Christmas Party” might not garner the most positive of responses from my readers who find it difficult to degrade a comedy, but there’s a considerable amount of negatives for this movie, and it doesn’t just begin and end with the terrible title that was chosen for this picture. This is very much one of my least favorite comedies of 2016, and the sum of its humorous glimpses ultimately don’t add up to make this a fluid comedy that always keeps the gut-busting rolling. It’s 100 minutes of the same five jokes that are repeated to the point of beating the audience over the head with it. With the exception of a couple brief laughs, the overwhelming majority of this movie kept me quiet, and that is ultimately what you grade a comedy on when it comes to pass/fail. The lack of memorable zingers is only the slightest of problems with this movie however.
The logical spins are audacious even for a shenanigans comedy. This is a movie that takes place during the biggest blizzard of the year in downtown Chicago, and the effect of snow might as well not even be present because it’s not like any of the cast react to it accordingly. For snow flakes as thick as hail chunks, and the reacting wind blowing through every shot, nobody ever signals being terribly cold or desperate to escape its chilling clutches. Keep in mind that most of the people who encounter the cold aren’t wearing jackets or any major article of clothing to keep them warm. Even funnier, we never once see any breaths from the cold temperatures, signaling how little of consideration actually went into this fluff piece. I’m not apologizing for calling this out because it is the most basic of concepts when it comes to where your film is set. Then there’s the lack of law enforcement, and I do mean lack because they are nowhere to be found in this movie. With the exception of a security guard who might as well be a drinker at the party, there is essentially zero law in this depiction of one of the biggest cities in America, and that’s made even more apparent by how much the characters get away with in this movie. I won’t spoil anything, but with the actions taken in the third act of this movie, everybody involved should at the very least be looking at some prison time. But nope, nothing ever forces regret from their actions in the same vein as a smart debauchery film like “Project X”, and it’s hard to take a movie at face value that fails to explore even the most basic of human responsibilities.
With the exception of Courtney B Vance playing an against-type binger who totally carries the entertainment factor of the party scenes, this is a wasted opportunity to showcase some usual supporting players into the main spotlight of film. T.J Miller isn’t in the movie a lot after the basic setup in the first act, and this is supposedly the main character of our movie. His character feels like what Ryan Reynolds would be cast as if he were still struggling with attaining meaningful scripts, but Miller’s rebelliously immature stance fits the bill quite well. Kate McKinnon continues her weirdo stick in film roles this year. Her character is one of a politically correct middle aged woman, offering a modern approach to work policies. Kate has always been brilliant on Saturday Night Live, but her work in movies have exposed the very thing we feared in the first place; there’s not a lot of material to present to ideas in characters that are nothing more than five minute skits on SNL. It’s time for her to break out on her own terms. The main cast don’t bring anything either. Jennifer Anniston, Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn and Rob Coddry are all playing their usual characters that you’ve seen in much better movies. That reminder will have you begging the question why you’re watching a less superior comedy when these actors have shined on much grander stages. As I mentioned before, Vance is the lone shining spot in this cast, but unfortunately his run is brief. The fifteen minutes that he graces the screen presents us with a refreshing coming out for Vance, whose usual dry gimmicks earn him roles in dramatic offerings. He feels right at home here, and his breaking out is satisfying to an audience starved for a laugh in any angle they can find it. Thank you Courtney, you seriously saved me from walking out.
The script is quite flimsy, and often feels desperate to try to throw something against that imposing 100 minute run time that clearly over-reaches. The one positive I can say is that “Office Christmas Party” at least knows when to call it quits, but it screeches to a grinding halt in pacing across that dreaded finish line. In addition to the lack of laughs, the movie has to remind us every fifteen minutes about where were at in the subplot storyline of saving this company from bankruptcy. This reminder feels forced and very unnatural when it comes to the storytelling, and adds nothing in substance to the idea of this movie revolving around one big party. The most fun I had was watching the mayhem taking place on-screen in this party, but we had to be reminded every few minutes of the overabundance in supporting characters, and just how important their resolutions are to the plot. The answer is not at all. The desperation to showcase no fewer than ten different character story arcs feels desperate to fill the time, relating the lack of depth in script that this film had to stand on its own against some of the more memorable modern Christmas comedies like “The Night Before” and “Bad Santa”. Those films were great because they warmed the heart with an underlying theme that relished in the depth of their scripts, and that lack of heart abuses this movie every chance it gets.
“Office Christmas Party” has about as much energy as you would imagine from a group of forty-year-olds at an all-night raver. The movie is a lot like a marathon of binge drinking, you regret ever doing it in the first place, and promise you’ll try to be a better person in the future. The problem is the trend seems to be that a new one of these comes out every Christmas, with “Sisters” abusing our minds and wallets last year. If this movie did teach me one thing however, it’s that Chicago is the place to be when you want to set fire to public property, damage public property while driving intoxicated, and illegally launch your own internet service that defies other businesses and government regulations. “Office Christmas Party”, I salute you. Not with that one, the middle one.
3/10