Office Christmas Party

Year: 2016
Genre: Comedy
Directed: Josh Gordon, Will Speck
Stars: Jason Bateman, Olivia Munn, T.J. Miller, Jennifer Aniston, Kate McKinnon, Courtney B. Vance, Jillian Bell, Rob Corddry, Vanessa Bayer, Randall Park, Sam Richardson, Karan Soni, Abbey Lee
Production: DreamWorks

To give credit where credit's due, Office Christmas Party does deliver on its premise. This is indeed a movie about an office Christmas party where debauchery goes hand in hand with yuletide merriment. Those looking for anything beyond the large, drawn out set piece featured in the trailer (i.e. the party) will be sorely disappointed. Yet given what's in the trailer, if you're clutching your pearls throughout, it really is on you for assuming there'd be anything more than broad low-hanging jokes and extended moments of improv.

The story hardly needs recapping - the posh offices of a Chicago tech company is looking to throw a rollicking Christmas party to end the year. Zenotek's proverbial humbug Carol Vanstone (Aniston) would rather close down the branch before the new year and poach all valuable employees. Clay Vanstone (Miller); Branch manager, brother of the CEO and archetypal man-child - would rather that didn't happen and uses the party to impress a potential client (Vance).

I love answering f***ing phones all day!

It is in the first act that this little holiday bulb burns brightest. We're introduced to a wide array of interesting characters all of which provide the proper ingredients for an above average ensemble farce. Rob Corddry and Karan Soni burst to the brim with possibility; one being an overzealous and foul-mouthed customer service head, while the other is a nebbish tech guy who is trying a little too hard to convince everyone he has a girlfriend. I'll let you guess which one's which.

Out of the larger ensemble, the second largest belly laughs early on go to Kate McKinnon who plays a terminally repressed HR head whose emphatic PC monitoring fuses with the rest of the office like a quirky systems glitch. Her interactions with Aniston's ruthless ice queen provide one of the few repeated moments of character insight that aren't fettered in stale jokes. That said, the real MVP here is obviously T.J. Miller who creates more giggles in a harebrained mirror pep talk than most comedians hope to have over a night.

Those moments unfortunately don't hold up when the film starts to lose its focus on a myriad of incoherent side-stories and debauched nonsense. We spend an awful lot of time with Vanessa Bayer's Allison character whose scenes with Randall Park completely deflate the easygoing Bachelor Party (1984) vibe the movie was throwing out. Jillian Bell, while being a little more instrumental to the story gets irritating right quick. Also, if there's anyone in need of a participation trophy for this movie it's Sam Richardson who straight up does nothing of consequence.

While much of the story beats and stakes are pinned on Zenotek's sibling rivalry, the technical leads are Chief Technical Officer Josh Parker (Bateman) and Head of Tech Tracey Hughes (Munn) who are so comfortably in their wheelhouse that they hardly need mentioning. He's a straight-laced boss reeling from a divorce - she's a geeky cool girl whose feels the company is stifling her genius. We get it, a movie full of forced kismet. Just please tell me there's not some asinine Christmas miracle that depends on two people kissing.

Dammit!

Merry Christmas everybody!

As I said, Office Christmas Party delivers on its premise. If all you're looking for is an R-Rated comedy featuring slow-motion Christmas tree jousting, than Office Christmas Party not only delivers but has a few good T.J. Miller scenes to boot. Yet considering the talent involved, Office Christmas Party should have been a slam dunk. The movie lacks coherence and flair which proves disappointing and even maddening to anyone seeking a new holiday staple. My advice, watch The Night Before (2015) again, instead.

Final Grade: C-