Hi everyone, Bryan here…
We’ve all been to Christmas Parties at the office before, and this time of year, when it’s Christmas, we get a plethora of holiday themed films. Well, the end of 2016 gives us ‘Office Christmas Party‘, the vulgar rated R Christmas movie that centers around a giant office Christmas party that’s made by the filmmaking duo of Will Speck and Josh Gordon (‘Blades of Glory‘). Does this offer any insight or something new to the comedy Christmas genre? No, not at all. That being said, this is a highly entertaining and hilarious film that I can see myself watching every year around the holidays. With the all-star cast, good soundtrack, funny dialogue, and an office party that we would all want to attend – ‘Office Christmas Party‘ is a success.
The other side of the coin here is that the writers added a side story throughout the film that took focus off of the Christmas party at hand. Jason Bateman plays Josh Parker, the CTO of a tech company run by Clay Vanstone (TJ Miller) and his sister Carol (Jennifer Aniston). Carol has a grudge with everyone and is business all the time. She is mean-spirited and the Scrooge of film. Clay is the fun-loving guy who is an idiot, but loves to treat people right. When Carol comes to town, threatening to shut down Clay’s office branch for good and fire the 200+ employees there, Clay and Josh plan an epic office party to impress a client to save their company and everyone’s job.
The party goes way past epic into legendary status with drugs, booze, sex, fighting, celeb cameos, and even a human centipede reference. These party scenes are quite funny, as it seems like a lot of the actors, including Kate McKinnon, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer, and many others used a lot of improv for their jokes, which always sparked a laugh. There is a side story with tech master Tracey (Olivia Munn) who has invented a new way to connect to the internet. This idea plays throughout the film and just bogs down the film in between the party scenes.
Still, there are enough laughs and Christmas spirit that makes this film highly entertaining and enjoyable on multiple viewings, even if there isn’t anything new or original here. Aniston is the real star here, as her rudeness and horrible character traits just nail every scene that makes you giddy with laughter. McKinnon is relegated to mostly fart jokes and isn’t any fun with the exception of a couple of scenes. And as always, TJ Miller is glorious and Bateman plays it cool with great dry humor. This is one ‘Office Christmas Party‘ I will be attending every year.
Recommended!
-Bryan Kluger