In a year that has been filled with moms, santa’s, and other clever characters participating in crude behavior, it almost makes “Office Christmas Party” look tame. The film mine as well be dubbed “Bad Employees” because if you took the comedy of “Office Space” and tried to combine that with the over-the-top party escapades of “Project X,” you probably would find yourself watching a movie like this. Too bad none of the entourage of A-list comedians which include: Jason Bateman, TJ Miller, Olivia Munn, Jennifer Aniston, and Rob Corddry can save any face for what is, otherwise, a subpar workplace comedy.
Miller, who usually steals many surefire beats with his quick comedic timing, tries to instill as much life as he can into Clay Vanstone. A happy-go-lucky head honcho of a big time corporate technology branch that he inherited from his father. Seeing Miller be the big cheese among all these other, much more intelligent, busy bodies is about as believable as the entire premise. Which sets up as Clay’s snobby sister, Carol (Aniston), threatens to close down her brothers branch unless they boost their revenues within two days. In an effort to do so Clay and his squad, which persist of Chief Technical Officer Josh Parker (Bateman) and Tracy Hughes (Olivia Munn) a lead code designer who is extremely smart, must close a multimillion dollar deal with Dell protege Walter Davis (Courtney B. Vance). And what better way than to dump thousands of dollars into the best Christmas bonanza of the century, invite Davis, and hope he has the time of his life.
It’s a ridiculous premise, I mean, there has to be some other way our compatriots could win over Davis’s trust rather than to put on a rager that, literally, brings the house down. So the bulk of “Party” relies on the idea of watching other people have fun, without letting the audience become invested with the characters, as they flashforward in and out like drunken misfits. Most of these troupes you’ve seen before. TJ Miller sledding down a flight of stairs only to crash and burn only goes so far and, yes, I’ll concede that watching Courtney B Vance swing like Tarzan face first into the ground is funny, but that’s a laugh you can get for free in the trailer. The biggest laughs come from SNL stud Kate McKinnon as an uptight Human Resources Coordinator, that is consistently worrying about sexual activity, booze, and the welfare of the staff. It’s the most fun seeing her crumble under how out of control the party starts to become, and because she is so committed, the audience is allowed to be too.
Directed by Josh Gordon and Will Speck, with a screenplay written by over four top-notch comedy rock stars, it’s within reason that I expected better. The whole movie plays like a frantic grab bag, often times trying too hard to earn those chuckles. I laughed more at the likability of the lead stars, than I did the gags. Like any Christmas party you have ever been forced to attend, this outing feels more like work than play. I just wish the writers would have pushed the envelope more, and went for the bigger than life stunt pieces, rather than just rely on the safe, by the book, gimmie set pieces everybody in the audience has already seen. Those going for a quick, forgettable laugh, will find means to pursue such a gathering. I suggest you lose that RSVP in the mail and skip this workload all together. C-
